Catwoman
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: AU Selina Potter is discovered to be the girl who lived, after living a life of neglect from her parents. But Selina won't play by the rules her brother did, with the help of her godmother, Selina becomes the CATWOMAN.
1. Chapter 1

My thanks to Lord of the light Cartwright.

**Catwoman.**

**The Truth is out. **

_**My name is Selina Potter, and I have a story to tell. It's been 3 years since Lord Voldemort died, and I vanished, and truly became Catwoman, a role I fill in to this day. **_

_**People think that Catwoman started out life as either a woman who suffered from amnesia and became a criminal because she could see nothing else, a prostitute who becomes a thief, and later a cat burglar who adopted a gimmick and found power in it. Not true. I Catwoman, I Selina Potter, was actually born to a rich family, but I got nothing from it. I was treated as little more than a pauper by my family. As the young Selina Potter, I had a taste of richness, and a taste for poverty. As Catwoman, I prevented poverty from happening. But, honestly, it truly doesn't matter; I don't have much need for possessions anymore. If push came to shove, I could live out of a suitcase. Easily. I had digs throughout my home turf, but I was always prepared for any eventualities. Considering the life I lead, I need to be prepared. How do I know if the cops aren't coming to where I live ? **_

_**I was 4 when I realised my parents had eyes for my brother, Daniel Potter. The boy who lived. The first thing I felt at that point was pain, then that pain led to heartbreak, but as the years passed, and my parents foisted me off to others to actually care for me, not caring about me one way or another - the Potter House elves, my mothers fool friends, the teachers of Roedean school, and so on. But I was never close to them except the teachers, they didn't know about magic, and they treated me like a human being, something that was refreshing, especially to a meta witch who hated the very sight of magical people with a passion. Ah, you're wondering what a meta witch is. Here, read this. **_

_**But they didn't know about me being a meta witch, something I didn't know about until I was 6 years old and I took a test that was designed to locate metas and work out their powers and abilities. Metas are rare in the world, and I'm not just talking about those in the magical community. Metas live in the normal world as well ( note I don't use the term muggle - it's repugnant ), and every meta has different abilities - one can move at speeds that a Cheetah wouldn't be able to match without a few million years of evolution, whilst another meta can pass through rock. It's not just on the physical side either, mental abilities; telepathy, telekinesis were sometimes common. **_

_**My abilities, on the other hand, because of my magical heritage, were different. My powers made me a Human Cat. I had the strength, the speed and the agility. I had incredible inhuman reflexes, a heightened sixth sense that alerted me to danger. That one was incredibly useful, particularly when my father believed the lies Dan spun like a spider web. More on that in a bit. My magical prowess was also….strange. Unlike other witches and wizards, particularly my parents and Albus Dumbledore, I didn't need a wand. I used something more superior. **_

_**My mind. Who needed a wand when you have the greatest asset of all ? I really don't understand why magicals don't use their minds and their common sense. **_

_**My mind was my wand. I discovered when I was sad, I wont go into the story. It was a depressing day. I made myself happier by discovering I had the ability to alter and manipulate magic purely by the power of my mind. I repaired the book my brother, and his cretinous friends, destroyed, I had to give a summary otherwise I'd never be able to get to that part. When it was repaired, I retreated to the Potter family library and I studied. I read up on the basic spells, and that laid the foundations of my knowledge on magic. I didn't need the incantation, I just needed the theory. The theories of spells like the lighting spell to the killing curse enabled my magical manipulation abilities to accept the mathematical possibilities. **_

_**Then again I did study calculus, that made my understanding and grounding of arithmancy more straightforward than they would be for other people. I didn't care about the long term concerns. Other advantages came as I grew older, my beauty for a start. As I grew older, I gained a figure a supermodel would die for. But I valued something else, my brain. My intellect. I had a photographic memory, I could think on my feet. Much better than that bitch Hermione Granger, the arrogant know it all not friend of my brother. Unable to think for herself that one, she always needs her hand held by someone like Dumbledore, and singing praises for him. Hermione Granger also wastes all her time and talent for something's that just wont happen, for a start she doesn't accept that not everything in life comes from books. That's not true, you can learn a lot from reading, but there is a certain amount you can actually learn for yourself. There's learning and there's doing, you can only learn by doing. Magic is no different, nor will it ever be. Its not something that can just be learnt in a day, it takes years too master it properly. But Granger doesn't see that, and I can't see her ever learning that facet about learning. **_

_**Just by reading this you think my relationship with my brother, his friends, and my parents was bad. It wasn't, it was worse. Much worse. My parents ignored me and my needs, and they fawned and spoiled Daniel instead. NEVER spoil a child, especially if said child has siblings. My parents, on the other hand, were worse. This was because my brother was prophesised to kill Lord Voldemort. Why spoil him for that ? I didn't understand the rationale behind that. Then again magical people are weird. Yes, I know I'm a witch, I use magical powers, have a magical heritage that goes back millenia, but I don't consider myself one of them, never have and never will. My parents fawned over Dan, believing every single lie he spun about me, then he would set them on me. It wasn't long before I was beaten, my body becoming black and blue. Anyone looking at me would think I came from another country, not that I wouldn't blame them for that presumption. When my godmother, Bellatrix Black found out she was furious, she cursed my parents until they could only twitch. She also helped trained me when she found out about the truth. My Aunt was the only living person back then I trusted. Bella Black was smarter than my cow of a mother, she could see things other people couldn't even get a glimpse of. She taught me duelling - the kind of duelling that would mean the difference between life and death in real life, she was my source for dark art knowledge. Bella may've been an auror, but she had complete records of dark arts. You may be wondering how a Black would be my godmother. Simple, Bella's parents wanted her to marry a death eater, and become one herself. But luckily Bella had seen first hand the results of Lord Voldemort's reign of terror, and Bella didn't want to be someone who would be responsible for the murder of innocent people. So she rebelled. Bella taught me about dramatics, disguises. She was an expert on practically anything. But back to why I hated my parents. **_

_**The story was that Lord Voldemort attacked Potter manor, and attacked Dan, after being betrayed by Peter Pettigrew because they knew that Sirius Black, my aunt's cousin, best friend and partner in crime to James Potter, and godfather to Dan, would be chosen for the secret keeper role. To put Voldemort off the scent, they switched over to Pettigrew. The plan would've worked, if there wasn't a flaw in it; Pettigrew was a death eater, and he blabbed the location of the family to Voldemort soon afterwards . The Dork lord was blasted out of his body, or killed, as the more hopeful of the sheep thought. Not true. I discovered a spell that accesses old and dormant memories, and I used it on myself. I did this when I was going to primary school. **_

_**I saw that entire night. I saw the truth. I found that I, Selina Potter was the one to defeat Lord Voldemort. Here's the punch line, he wasn't killed. He was blasted out of his body, I saw him. A wraith lifted itself off from the robed and cloaked figure, cursing as he did. I remember him swearing revenge against me, and if that wasn't motivation for me to train then I don't know what isn't. I trained myself in magic, even asking the House elves for guidance. I've never seen House elves so shocked until then, but then again they'd been asked for help by a witch before. But their powers and their implementation was similar to mine, so it was a logical choice. I learnt a lot from them, its amazing how arrogant the magical world is that they ignore that House elves are twenty times more advanced than wand users. They only need to think, then they Have created a spell. How on Earth could Humans be so stupid ?**_

_**I went to Primary school, where I learnt the rudiments of a normal education, something my father paid for but didn't care about. I was more like a bastard child to him, and my mother. Love turned to disdain, then to diluted hatred. But truthfully, as I got older, I found I couldn't care less about the thoughts of my family. My parents ignored me, they didn't even speak to me. Nothing new as I grew older. But that would change, and change later when I became a teenager. **_

_**Whilst I was at Primary school, my Aunt Bella endorsed my after school activities; my horse riding lessons, my athletics; running, jogging etc, tennis to keep my weight down, work at a gym; weight lifting, rowing machines, the lot. My aunt, seeing that I preferred physical work, supported me when I decided to learn Judo, Karate, kick boxing, fencing and ballet. The last one was to improve my balance to a level that that my already existing balance, which was beyond human, would become greater. I won awards for every single one of them, except the gym and horse riding. Later on I discovered sports like hockey and rugby, naturally excelling at them, and playing with brutality, but what else could you expect from me ?**_

_**Intellectually, I studied electronics, computers and puzzles, and drama. Hey, if you're planning on becoming a cat burglar, where else to start ? I also learnt about special effects from movies, makeup for disguises.**_

_**My brother, on the other hand, he went to a magical equivalent to a primary school, where he learnt the basics of magical history.**_

_**Boring. See the differences between us ? **_

_**When it came to us being 11, I found I wasn't going to Hogwarts. I was going to Roedean, a school in Brighton, and far away from my family. I would only see them during the holidays, but I wasn't complaining. It wasn't like anyone other than Aunt Bella missed me. That was soon going to change, when the Potters whole shallow world turned upside down. **_

_**I found out my parents had withdrawn me from the Hogwarts roster mostly because they didn't want me to spoil Dan's education, but I didn't care. As far as I was concerned, I'd already been educated in magical arts. Besides I'd need a wand. I can't use them, I almost fried my Aunt Bella's wand once, so I stuck with wandless magic. **_

_**I was 15 when the fools discovered the truth, it was about time…..**_

Brighton. Churchill Square.

A figure was moving stealthily through the dark night towards the skylight of the Churchill square, moving with a sinuous grace that bordered on inhuman. This apparition moved more gracefully than a ballet dancer. Clad in black, the figure managed to blend into the shadows and move quickly but carefully. From time to time, she would stop and turn her head from side to side to keep an eye out for anything unusual that would spoil her task. Another burglar, a security system, even a vigilante with a Batman style. In a life of crime, anything was possible.

When the figure reached the skylight, she stopped and lifted a finger, just one finger. Concentrating all of her magic into that one tip, she applied her finger, like a welder would apply a torch to two plates of metal. Carefully and slowly, the woman cut out a circle in the glass. Once the piece was removed, the woman waited. There was no movement. Then, she clicked her fingers.

There may not have been an instantaneous **visual **response, but the security alarms had been rendered useless. With a grin on her full face, she leapt down, landing on her feet after rotating her body gently around, and padded gently to her destination.

Swarovski, a jewellery store. She clicked her fingers again, this time immobilising the cameras. The burglar knew that her entrance into the mall was going to demand questions, she didn't want to add anymore than was necessary. She clicked again, immobilising the stores independent security system. The burglar knew no one would be stupid enough to link every store security system together, they'd all be independent.

She clicked her fingers for a fourth time. The gates opened. The burglar entered and took her time with her heist. She took necklaces, rings, everything in sight. Nothing was missed.

The heist took her no less than 4 minutes. When she was finished, she left and closed up the shop, leaving behind her calling card; a piece of card with a black cat on it. On the back was a message. But before she could reach the skylight hole, she came across a security guard. She cursed as she hid in the shadows, she'd brought no weapons, nothing. Then she decided to use her wits.

Stepping out of the shadows, and in full view of the guard, who reminded her of a teenager, she smiled sheepishly, well as sheepishly as she could.

" Excuse me, I'm sorry. I've been wondering around for hours." the thief said, purring the word hours seductively.

The guard gulped as the thief brushed up against him, rubbing his crotch almost as though by accident. He couldn't deny that he was flustered, this thief was beyond gorgeous. She was tall, around his height, and he was 5,9. She wore a mask over her eyes and covered her head, but she had beautiful eyes. Blue, mischievous and with a spark that sent chills down to his dick.

She wore a black crop top which showed off her athletic figure and also showed off her midriff, emphasising her curves and her massive chest. Her long legs were covered in pants that made her look as though she'd been liquid, and she'd been poured into them. A pair of leather boots completed the assemble which clung to her legs, almost as though she'd been born with them on, but she had on her back a backpack.

Unfortunately, the burglar had distracted him too long. Before he could react, she lashed out with a deadly kick that connected to his head, and he collapsed.

The burglar went directly under the hole in the skylight, crouched and leapt up. The Cat had been born.

_**That was my first heist, but it was only the beginning. Back then I thought that I was better than others. But I wasn't, I knew I had a long way to go before I reached that point. At that point, I was a kitten, a kitten that needed to grow, to become better. I knew that then. I knew it would take time for that to happen, for me to reach my potential. What I didn't know was that at the exact time I was committing this robbery, the magical world was learning the truth…..**_

_**At that point, you're probably wondering how much time I had ?**_

_**Be honest, so did I. **_

Albus Dumbledore wondered at that precise moment how things could've gone so badly. The defence of the prophecy hadn't gone as Dumbledore had thought it would, for a start Daniel didn't go as Dumbledore had expected, and wanted, to defend it with the same die hard bravery of a typical Gryffindor. But no, Daniel and his friends were still at Hogwarts asleep, completely and blissfully ignorant of recent events. Lord Voldemort appearing inside of the Ministry of Magic, in the face of that bumbling fool Cornelius Fudge was a bonus. At last, the incompetent fool could be removed. Fudge had shown himself up to be a fool, promising the magical world that the rumour, the stories that the dark lord hadn't returned had returned. The magical world would want to point fingers, and many, the Potters amongst them, would see that those fingers pointed directly at Fudge.

Now they would be able to defend the magical world and get things moving. But Dumbledore knew that defence was going to become a problem, they'd lost a full year of preparation. In that time, Voldemort had prepared his forces, made moves to gather allies. What had the Light achieved ? A worthless smear campaign brought upon by a Minister who was going to find himself kicked out of office now no matter what the pompous fool tried to save his worthless hide, and Dumbledore was aware that the pompous buffoon would go and there wouldn't be a tear in anyone's eye, except for the death eaters, who found Fudge easy to control. But the Ministry….that night would have far reaching consequences.

Lord Voldemort had announced, publicly, that Daniel Potter wasn't the chosen one, shocking everyone present in the vicinity, including the minister, his entourage, and strangely, Amelia Bones, who appeared vindicated. Although why she would he had no real idea. Daniel's sister was the chosen one, and she wasn't at Hogwarts where Dumbledore could easily reach and influence her. Dumbledore had been having concerns about Daniel for a while now. Dumbledore had expected since Voldemort had returned last year that Daniel would be having headaches, attacks on his mind. But he hadn't. instead, the boy had been normal, fighting with the Malfoy boy, Dolores Umbridge using the blood quill on him was now of interest to him and his family, who were planning on making Fudge pay a tremendous price. But Dumbledore was more concerned about the ramifications of Dan not being the chosen one, the fact he had not experienced a single vision was worrying enough. The boy should've been feeling emotions, something, from Voldemort. But he wasn't experiencing anything.

Then Arthur Weasley was attacked, and the Weasleys and the Order weren't aware of this until the next morning. Arthur had almost died, but luckily he'd survived. With subtle mind reading, Dumbledore searched Daniel when he'd summoned the Gryffindor student to his office when his concerns drove him nearly out of his mind, which needed to be discreet because of Dolores Umbridge's interference at the school.

Dumbledore had expected to find a piece of Voldemort, a fragment, anything. But he was disappointed when he found nothing. How could he finalise his plans if Dan didn't have a key ingredient ? He'd even arranged occlumency lessons with Severus, telling the potions master to actually look for the soul fragment that Daniel must have. Severus came back empty handed. There was nothing noteworthy about Daniel Potter, except the boy was big headed, arrogant, pompous, and stupid.

Now this nightmare. Dumbledore had been, vaguely, aware of the existence of Daniels sister, his twin. Selina, but then again so had everyone else. Hardly anyone, except too his knowledge, Bellatrix, knew anything about the child. The problem was getting her on his side, to make her rely on him. Again, the matter of Bellatrix came up, mostly because Bellatrix and he didn't see eye to eye concerning his unhidden belief that the death eaters could be forgiven and redeemed. In the eyes of Bellatrix Black, and Alastor Moody, the death eaters deserved extermination, something Dumbledore strongly disagreed with entirely.

Dumbledore barely knew anything of the girl, didn't know what would be needed to bring her to his side in a second. To be honest, Selina had every reason to hate him and her parents; with his agreement he'd managed to do the unthinkable and remove her from the Hogwarts roster, something that had never been done before, but was in his power to do.

Lily and James, along with the entire Order was in his office. All he wanted was to be alone, but this couldn't and wouldn't wait. When he was alone, then he was going to process the information he now had in his great mind, and then go from there.

Dumbledore glanced at the Potters, who looked distraught.

" We need to rectify this. I can restore Selina to the roster with no problem. But," he added, glaring at the Potters, " we need to perform damage control. Quick. That will not be easy. Selina has been neglected for years, and we need desperately to repair this disaster."

Lily had tears in her eyes, " How do we do this Albus ? How do I get my baby girl back ?"

Bellatrix Black was furious, but she was vindicated. For many years, she'd held the secret Selina had given to her for a long time, she'd trained Selina. Bella had been amazed by her goddaughters genius, if she'd gone to Hogwarts then she'd have been a Ravenclaw, no question.

When she'd heard the news that the Potters and Dumbleore had struck Selina off the roster, she'd been furious. But Selina had been indifferent. Sel had never wanted to go to Hogwarts. She was a Potter, not a Black. But she hated her family, her heritage with a passion. Frankly, Bella couldn't blame her. She of all people, barring Sirius, her cousin, should know that. Bella knew what it was like to have family that constantly expected much from them, and more, but Bella hadn't been ignored whilst she'd been a child, like Selina had been

Bellatrix had had a similar life; her parents had been dark lord fanatics. They wanted all of their children to marry pureblood bigots and become death eaters themselves. They'd all had their children's lives mapped out for them. Bellatrix, Andromeda and Sirius had escaped that fate, Regulus and Narcissa hadn't been as lucky. Bella felt sick that one of the Black triplets was now a death eater, an enemy. If there was one thing she dreaded, it was the idea of facing her sister on the battlefield. She knew that Narcissa would be forced to kill her, but she prayed there was enough sisterly love to stop that, but she wouldn't count her life on that. Bella and Sirius had become Aurors, later members of the Order of the Phoenix. Bellatrix had once had expectations that Dumbledore would be a great fighter, better than the dark lord her parents had practically worshipped. Only she'd been disappointed; Dumbledore had been a disappointing leader, the only thing he did during meetings was preaching that the death eaters should be saved and redeemed for the light side.

What a laugh !

" What makes you think you can Lily ? You've neglected her for years, missing birthdays, forgetting you have two children. Don't think I've forgotten finding Selina bloodied and bruised, you abused her, you spineless bitch !" Bellatrix shouted coldly, uncaring about Lily's reaction.

Lily burst into tears, but James jumped up, his wand out and a curse ready. But Bella was faster, she had her wand out in half the time. " Your reflexes need work, Potter !" she sneered, " Then again so does your paternal instinct."

Dumbledore had had enough, " That's it ! We must work together, we must not fight amongst one another ! Selina must come to Hogwarts for training and protection."

" So you think tearing Selina away from the school she goes to, the life she loves, forcing her to come to a place she absolutely despises is a good move do you ? Good luck." Bella asked.

" How can she hate Hogwarts ? She's never attended it." McGonagall asked, scandalised by the news that a girl would hate a school she'd never been there.

Bellatrix looked at her hands. Selina had told her this day was inevitable, she'd also known her godmother would be in the thick of things, so she'd allowed her godmother to reveal a few things.

" Selina can't be joined with a wand, her magic is different." she said, putting regret into her voice. The rest of the Order assumed, at that point, that the beautiful witch was upset about betraying a secret Selina had obviously kept from everyone for a long time. But then again, who would listen to a little girl who was all but invisible ?

" Selina hates Hogwarts because of what people become - she hates the stereotypes that form here. She doesn't want that, she wants what she wants." Bella added, even though she'd given just a hint about the reasons behind Selina's hatred of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore frowned. He had his own ideas about the power the dark lord knew not. But clearly Selina Potter had her own interpretation.

" In what way ?" he asked, his voice making it clear that he wanted answers.

Bella was still looking down at her hands, the fake regret catching everyone, " She can manipulate magic by the power of her mind. She has a knowledge of arithmancy, she can create new spells in a second. I taught her duelling," Bella decided to lay down her cards. " Every trick I know, including the dirtier ones. She knows them all, and she's even come up with a few more techniques too. She's an exceptional strategist, she can outthink an opponent in seconds, she has an uncanny sixth sense about other peoples body language, making her able to see and predict other people's actions. She's got a highly organised mind, she can make split second deductions, making her an exceptional detective. Selina doesn't think like you or me, she has her own thinking process. She loves reading, she reads detective novels, her favourite are the Sherlock Holmes novels, but she likes reading technical books from the muggle world."

Moody looked interested. He'd helped train Bella Black, he knew that if she'd been training Selina Potter then the girl was more than likely more of a threat if provoked. That and the fact she could do what Bella said she could do would make her a formidable opponent. He Didn't know the half of it.

The body language bit and the strategist knowledge made Moody consider things more about Miss Potter. If he ever met her in battle, then he knew he would need to be careful and make feints in order to win.

Molly Weasley broke in at that point, her mind thinking that this girl should be sheltered from the world, that she shouldn't have this knowledge. But she was too arrogant and short sighted to realise it was too late, " How could you train that girl ? She shouldn't have to know that !"

Bellatrix twisted her head, a sneer on her face, " Aw, and what would Molly Weasley want Selina Potter, a girl that isn't even related to her in any shape or form to do, care about what Molly Weasley thinks. Did you know that Selina holds you in contempt ? A mother hen clucking peasant she called you." She laughed when Molly exploded with rage. " Oh, go on, Molly, we both know that if you tried to duel me you'd lose, and quickly !"

" ENOUGH !" Dumbledore screamed.

Bella sat back, but she knew that Selina was in for a rough time.

" My dear Bellatrix, is it possible for you to persuade Selina to attend Hogwarts ?" Dumbledore asked once the tension had died down somewhat.

Bella snorted, " Haven't you listened to me ? Selina doesn't want anything to do with the magical world, let alone attend Hogwarts. Besides, she'd want to know what she'd get out of it."

" She'd get an education - " Dumbledore wondered if Bella had any manners when she interrupted again.

" A substandard education, you mean, coupled with the fact you'd lock her in an environment she would hate. I've just told you, Selina's magic's different. She wouldn't fit in, everyone would treat her like some sort of freak. You would just sit back and say that Selina needs to forgive. Think again. Selina doesn't forgive, if anyone bullied her, they'd end up in a hospital bed. She goes for the jugular, losing is not in her vocabulary, nor is forgiveness. She wont forgive her parents either, Dumbledore. You're wasting your time." Bella said the last part with a sneer.

" What do you mean by that ?" Lily asked in a watery voice.

" Selina isn't the forgiving sort, I've just told you that. You've ignored, beaten, neglected her, sending her to a muggle school, which she loves but certainly will thank you for. I took care of her more, since no one here bothered to care for her," Bella added sharply, enjoying the looks of grief on the faces of the people she held responsible.

Dumbledore's mind was spinning, his brain trying to work out a plan that would work. But Bella made sense, she knew the girl, but getting her to help would be problematic. Bellatrix Black didn't really trust him, unlike the rest of the Order, she was in it to bring down the death eaters. Black was the most public of the few members of the Order of the Phoenix who didn't like his policy of redemption for death eaters.

Besides, he felt intimidated by her. Bella was a powerful witch, dangerous, and absolutely unpredictable in battle, which made her a tremendous enemy.

His plan would need to be subtle.

He would soon have Selina Potter in his grasp, where she should be.

_**The Order now knew the truth. **_

_**They knew they'd been wrong, that they'd wasted all their precious time and energy on someone who didn't deserve it. Of all the people in the meeting, only my aunt Bella knew that I was prepared for this, that I'd been aware that this would happen for a long time.**_

_**It was a logical deduction that this would probably be when me and Dan would both be teenagers, that would be because Lord Voldemort needed to gather his strength. It was also a logical conclusion that Lord Voldemort would announce the truth, gloating that the magical world would fall, and I wouldn't do anything to stop it. **_

_**If he thought that he was delusional, but then again, so were my parents and Dumbledore. Delusions made people dangerous, and Lord Voldemort could become an exceptional enemy. **_

_**I may've been training in magic and martial arts since I was a kid, but I knew one thing. **_

_**I wasn't ready yet to fight someone like Lord Voldemort. **_


	2. Chapter 2

**Pulled Out. **

" Hey, Selina, look what's in the paper." Lucy Cartwright shouted across the common room. Everyone either jumped, or sighed when the overly cheerful and cherubic girl walked in the room.

Selina Potter sighed as her dorm mate came over, a grin on her pink face as she brought in the newspaper. Cartwright was always absurdly happy.

The two girls couldn't look any different - Lucy Cartwright was short, slightly plump, with blond hair that was done up in pigtails.

Selina, on the other hand, was tall, thin, athletic with a body that was almost at the pinnacle of perfection, she still had a long way to go for that. Selina had an olive complexion, something she was delighted about. She hated the rosy kind, thought it was too normal. Selina hated normal. She preferred unique, special, too anything adversely normal. Normal was boring, at least in Selina's mind.

With blue eyes and black hair, creamy skin with a beauty mark on her cheek, Selina was a beautiful girl, probably more beautiful than a fashion model, but she didn't care much about that, even though she certainly wasn't above using her looks to get herself what she wanted, like normal girls. But she wasn't like normal girls, again with the disdain for the normalcy. She didn't spend centuries on shopping sprees, she spent most of her time swimming, practicing athletics, martial arts and so on.

" What is it ?" Selina asked, even though she had a good idea. It was almost time for the afternoon edition of the Argus, a local newspaper. There had been no news from the night before, and Selina wasn't bothered by that. She knew that the investigation would take most of the day before the media was allowed to actually print and report the news.

Lucy held out the paper. The headline read, " **NEW CAT BURGLAR WALKS THROUGH CHURCHILL SQUARE - WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SECURITY ?" **

As headlines went, Selina had seen worse. She was delighted that they were asking questions about the burglary, but Selina had never expected something like this one. She especially liked the walking through bit, it made her sound like some sort of ghost.

Selina looked at Lucy, " A new cat burglar, so what ?" she drawled in a bored and " why the hell should I care ?" voice.

" So that means something new for this town !" Lucy cried, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Selina rolled her eyes, but then again Lucy did have point that something new had arrived. If she'd known that Lucy Cartwright would make such a fuss she wouldn't have bothered.

A prefect came in, talk about timing, " Excuse me, I'm to take Selina Potter to the headmistress." the girl said timidly.

Selina stood up, delighted to get away from Lucy. As the two girls left, Selina towering over the smaller girl, she glanced at the prefect. Selina could've been a prefect - all the staff and students respected her, she had genius level grades, she was popular, she was a star pupil. But she was too wild, she liked partying and getting into trouble.

It would never have worked.

" So how're you doing Martha ? How's your sister ?"

Martha looked at the older girl with shock. " V..very well, thanks. My sister's doing better learning to walk again after that accident."

Selina smiled, Martha's sister was good mate. She'd been injured in a boating accident.

" Give her my regards." Selina said warmly to her.

Martha smiled shakily, Selina was something of an icon for her, for everyone if truth be told. It was rare that the older girl reached out like this. But it was welcome.

" T-t-t-thanks, S-Selina." Martha stuttered shyly, but happily that her idol was speaking to her.

Selina smiled warmly at her. Selina genuinely liked Martha, but she wished the girl wasn't so timid all the time.

When they reached the headmistress's office, they knocked and entered. Selina stopped when she saw the second person in the room.

It was her aunt Bella. Selina knew that this wasn't going to be a social call.

* * *

><p>Bella looked at the headmistress, " May I speak to my goddaughter alone please ?"<p>

" Of course," Mrs King replied.

As King and Martha left the room, Bella took out her wand and waved it. " We can talk freely,"

Selina was instantly suspicious, " What's happened ?"

Bella sighed, " They know."

Selina took a deep breath, " So soon ? What happened, you didn't say ?" she added, repeating her original question and hoping to find out what was wrong, and why the magical world knew about what had happened that fateful night.

Bella took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy, " There was a raid at the ministry last night. The dark lord was seen by everyone, including Fudge."

Selina nodded. She'd been aware that Fudge had accused her brother of being a liar and an attention seeker, and had wondered why it had taken the incompetent little fool to realise that little home truth. Selina had known Lord Voldemort had been back for a while, she'd increased her training in fact.

Bella carried on, " Voldemort revealed the truth, just like you said he would. Dumbledore wants to take you out of Roedean and place into Hogwarts, and train you."

" Did you give the cover story ?"

" I did."

Selina nodded, " Then the contingency plan can go ahead. Whatever happens I must leave this country."

* * *

><p>It took the two women 30 minutes to leave - 10 to inform everyone she was being taken out of the school, 10 to say goodbyes to all of Selina's friends, and another 10 to actually get through the gates.<p>

Bella Black was driving the car, a magically enhanced car like the kind the Ministry used. Some magical families owned a few, they weren't like the old banger Arthur Weasley had moronically tampered with. Selina found it hypocritical that the magical world would gladly ignore what their non magical counterparts had and yet they would use things like cars, buses, elevators.

Selina, being magically raised, knew the difference between this car and a normal car.

This car had features that would never have been considered for a normal car, like the ability to go underwater, but Selina knew her one favourite was the comfort.

When the car went fast - Knight Bus fast, that is, - the car automatically compensated for it, unlike the rollercoaster rides you got free from the Knight bus. Selina remembered when she'd caught a ride on that horrible thing, the journey was to Diagon Alley when the floo network was being maintained, and the journey had thrown her about, and gave her an irrational hatred of public transport.

Selina glanced at her aunt, with the normal people repelling charms all over the car, Bella looked like she was driving. But she wasn't, she was sitting like someone at a park bench.

" So how did they find out ?" she asked. Selina had been curious about how they'd found out that little tidbit, she'd honestly hoped for Voldemort to reveal it at the final battle. That would've given the light side idiots heart attacks all round.

Bella sighed, " There was a raid on the Ministry. The Dark lord was after a prophecy the order was protecting, rather badly, if you ask me."

Selina nodded, she knew only too well that the Order of the Phoenix was ill equipped to actually fight a war with school children, never mind guard something like a prophecy.

Bella carried on, " Dumbledore and the Order got to the Ministry, well you can imagine. There was a skirmish, later the Dark lord himself arrived."

Selina's head shot to her aunt in shock, " Voldemort arrived at the ministry he wasn't there before ? I know you said so earlier, but I wasn't expecting that. What was he there for ? Why did he arrive so late ?"

Bella shrugged, " Who knows ? Personally, I think he was there to reveal himself at last, the tell the Order they'd made a mistake that'd cost them dearly, to eradicate hope in the magical world. Its working as well, people who've been cheering Dan are now scared stiff, especially since they know nothing about you now they know you are the one to defeat Voldemort."

Selina gasped, " He was gloating," she whispered, " It's the only logical answer, he must know how I feel about the Potters, and the Order, he knows too much. He must know that I'm not the forgiving sort, he probably thinks that after that then he could move in unopposed, and the magical world being sheep and people where their brains are like compost heaps, decomposed, would lift a finger to stop it."

In a whisper, Selina pieced the puzzle together, " He wasn't there to fight, he was there to tell Dumbledore he's wasted time and energy on training Daniel, that the Potters have wasted years on the wrong child. Voldemort must believe that no matter what Dumbledore does, I wont be much of a threat to him."

Bella listened to her goddaughter as she analysed the puzzle. She had to admit it made sense.

" What do you plan to do ?"

Selina's response was automatic.

" I need to get out of the country. Dumbledore's gonna to lean hard on me. If I leave then he'll concentrate his efforts in finding me, but Dumbledore wont train me. I watched some of the training sessions he had with my brother, whilst they made Dan more advanced than the average student, Dan wouldn't have been a worthwhile opponent for Voldemort, or anyone else with enough brain cells to fight back, people like Moody, or you. I myself had mastered spells in moments that took Dan months, _months_ to wrap his head around. You know that."

Bella nodded.

Selina smirked as she asked her next question, " How did they take it ?"

With an identical smirk on her beautiful face, Bella told her, " Dan was furious, throwing a temper tantrum, screaming over and over again that he was the boy who lived, and you were just a pathetic little girl who wouldn't be able to stand up against him. James and Lily, on the other hand, they were adult enough to understand the truth, especially since Dumbledore himself confirmed it." Bella finished with an even bigger smirk, and also a little bit of pity, she'd liked the Potters until that night.

" Wait, Dumbledore confirmed it ? How ?" Selina asked quickly; if the old fart could deduce and recognise the logical truth then what else could he do ?

" Dumbledore's been worried about Dan for a while now, he told us at the meeting last night. Dan doesn't have any connection to the Dark lord whatsoever, something he's supposed to have." Bellatrix explained.

" Well he's going to be disappointed," Selina said darkly, " I removed that little piece of him years ago. Remember ?"

" He is going to be disappointed," Bella commented dryly, " As I was saying, Dumbledore has been worried. No matter what Dumbledore teaches Dan, he just wont take it on board. Moody, Shacklebolt and Tonks, three of the Order's aurors, they want nothing to do with Dan, especially since Lily has treated him like a toddler, " You can't hurt my little hero," " Bella sneered the last part, doing a cruel but accurate imitation of Lily Potter.

Sel laughed, " I remember her doing that. It was pathetic. What else ?"

" Now they know the truth, and I'm talking the whole wizarding world here, Dumbledore wants you to go to Hogwarts, for training and protection."

Selina, who'd been visiting Grimmauld Place during the summer, knew that Dumbledore's idea of protection was vastly dissimilar from hers. There was a saying, _the best place to hide something, is in plain sight._

Indeed, if you wanted to hide a ship, you'd hide it in a harbour, if you wanted to hide a tree, you put it in a forest. Dumbledore believed that people locked in a dark, gloomy house for a month or so, lacking sunlight, was the healthy means to maintaining safety.

Selina, on the other hand, knew the advantages of disguise. Selina was talented there, no surprise, she was a born actress, and knew the applications of stage makeup. That and her knowledge of disguising spells would make her disappear in a crowd. If she wanted she could vanish completely without a trace.

Unlike the Order, Selina wasn't afraid of the outside world, and neither was Bella.

" Protection ?" Selina sneered, " Locked inside a house, not allowed to go outside ? That's asking for trouble. What about Danny boys friends ?"

Bella smirked, giving Selina her answer.

* * *

><p>Selina may've renounced the magical world, may've hated the magical world, its culture, its outlooks on life, its unbelievable conceit and overwhelming bigotry. But that didn't mean she hated the awesome beauty of Hogwarts. The castle was massive, a work of art. She knew that if a normal person looked at the school, they'd see an unsafe ruin on top of a hill.<p>

When they passed into the school, Selina felt cold. She'd heard her parents, and their idiot friends talk about the school as if it was their second home. From their descriptions, the school was a warm place.

But Selina felt cold, the school must realise that she didn't want to be there, that she felt nothing but contempt for the place.

Bella glanced at Selina, knew that she was curious, but she didn't want to get too comfortable about Hogwarts.

Selina almost laughed when she heard the password leading up to the Headmaster's office, cockroach cluster. Who ate those things, and lived ?

As soon as they reached the top, Bella looked at Selina, " Remember, play you part." Selina whispered.

Bella nodded.

Bella knocked on the door.

" Come in,"


	3. Chapter 3

**My thanks to the people who put this story on their lists, you have my deepest gratitude, and i hope you continue enjoying reading this story. **

**Well, that could've gone well. **

Selina and Bella walked into the office, only for Selina to freeze when she was grabbed by her mother. For a moment she thought this was an episode of the Twilight zone. It was the first time her mother had every held her as a teenager.

" SELINA !" her mother cried in her ear, making her wince with both pain and annoyance. It had been a long time since Selina had been remotely touched by an affectionate touch from her parents, too long for her memory, but it was there, at the back of her mind. And Selina had counted those days, those months….as a child, Selina had given up any hope of her mother holding her in a grip that wasn't forced or a last minute thing.

Her mother was crying, it sickened Selina that her own mother was acting like some stupid kid that cried incessantly when something didn't go her own way. Did she really think that Selina would break down and accept her like this ? If she did then she was going to be disappointed.

With the agility of a cat, Selina smoothly got out of her grasp, ignoring her mothers pained look, but Selina didn't care, besides from what she'd learnt about the Potters growing up, they were more concerned about their collective images, so the hug was more for show. Her parents had been in the spotlight with Dan for so long that they didn't even know what it meant to be truly human, they wanted to keep their routine of dinner parties, photoshoots, public displays where her mother would wear incredibly expensive clothes, topped by the most pricey and top of the range makeup. Was it any surprise Selina wanted nothing to do with them ? Whilst fashion conscious herself, Selina believed she had better taste, at least she didn't wear gaudy robes, and knew not to be too extravagant.

As far as the teenager was concerned, her mother was too late. Much too late. Only time would tell if the stupid woman realised that by herself without the puppet master she served making her realise that little facet.

Selina managed to move deeper into the room, her head held high, the light of the room shining on her immaculate dark hair, not bothering to hide the contempt and boredom on her haughty face, she'd never asked to be here, and if these fools expected some meek like kid then they were destined to be disappointed. There was no way in heaven Selina was going to bow down to the Order. Speaking of which, all around were members of the Order of the Phoenix. The whole inner circle of the Order of the Phoenix, Selina hadn't expected this. But it didn't matter.

Aside from her parents, who were still crying, Selina had no trouble finding her brother, or his friends. Dan was glaring at her, fury and jealousy all over his face he was trying, clearly, to be intimidating, but it wasn't working because it didn't make any difference about who the chosen one was. If it was Granger, Longbottom or even Weasley, it didn't matter to her. All that mattered to her was The Work, and without that to occupy her mind and body, she rotted like a compost heap. Selina mentally shook her head, if the fool thought that he was intimidating her with his anger, he was in for a disappointment. She honestly didn't care about who defeated Voldemort, if it was her, then she would do it. Then she would leave, never to return.

To his left and his right sat his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, the two fools were glaring at her as well, but Selina was certain it wasn't for the exact same reason Dan was, well, maybe a little, but still she was sure why they were glaring at her. Selina was aware, whilst her brother was not, obviously, that the two of them had been promised by Dumbledore to befriend him, and also to ensure that no one else got too close to him. Selina had overheard them, Dumbledore had promised Weasley that he would be given the head boy job in his last year, that he would also be Quidditch captain. Selina had to admit, for a moron, it was incredibly easy to recruit the dumbest Weasley into his little group. All you had to do was simply appeal to his already over inflated opinion, which Ron had in abundance.

From what she knew of the red headed baboon, that was like giving treasure free to a conman, but the problem was Ron had no intention of actually working for they petty things he wanted. Ron Weasley was lazy, incompetent and also unwilling to achieve his ambitions through hard work, unlike some people. Selina knew that hard work yielded results. His brothers, Bill and Charlie, they were highly successful in their respective careers and abilities, his twin brothers and his third eldest brother, Percy, were also successful in what they did - Selina didn't know what they did, and frankly she didn't give a shit.

Hermione Granger, on the other hand, pissed her off no end, and that was because she was more intelligent, admittedly, than both Weasley and her brother. In many ways, Granger was the opposite of Ron Weasley. But not by much. Granger was one of those people that believed that every answer to every conceivable question was in a book, which Selina found laughable. Selina had been reading books for years, around the same figure as Hermione herself, and had seen that information books held fragments of data that later generations of books had either omitted the details of the fragments, or completely erased them when they clashed with the older piece of information.

It was a fundamental fact of books, really. It was a logical conclusion that people would want to have the best information, and the most recent facts that went with it.

Granger was either ignorant, or just plain arrogant, of that particular fact. Granger and Selina had never gotten along, despite the fact they shared some traits of their personalities, both liked reading books, solving logical puzzles, but that was where the differences ended. Selina despised Hermione for her arrogance, her inability to accept that not everyone was like her when it came to academics, the way she looked at people when they did well on tests. Selina had even been submitted to a demonstration of those same looks, and she hated them.

Hermione Granger was good at absorbing information, Selina had to admit that, she was good at storing it, but that was all she did. She regurgitated information the same way drunks vomited all over the streets, but she wasn't any good in a fight. Dumbledore had promised her access to his own personal library, home to a million old tomes, and also the head girl position. That wasn't the worst of it, there was also the knowledge that Granger was petty, she sulked and threw tantrums when someone, anyone, scored better than she did on anything, and she ran off to a library, and studied. How anyone could think that this girl was prefect material - Selina had noted the badges on both Grangers and Weasley's chests, Dan had been told that being a prefect meant sitting in meetings and that'd he'd be bored - let alone head girl material was anyone's guess.

Selina wondered if that girl realised that there was more to life that what existed in her barren philosophy, but she doubted it.

Technically Remus Lupin was her godfather, but like all of the Potters friends, barring Bellatrix Black of course, preferred to spend time with Daniel. He was sitting between Sirius Black, Bella's cousin, and Nymphadora Tonks. There was no love between those two and Selina, Sirius was just as happy to ignore Selina like her parents had, whilst Tonks was more the slutty girlfriend type, she hung on the arms of her brother and her own godfather. Tonks had never really liked Selina, for reasons the younger woman didn't understand, and quite honestly, didn't give a damn.

If Hermione Granger reached old age, then she would almost certainly become a clone of Minerva McGonagall. Selina had little contact with the woman, knowing that the transfiguration teacher was a cat animagus. It was a pity the sour old spinster couldn't or wouldn't become more cat like in her thinking. The prudish old cow was someone that Selina disliked on principle.

Minerva McGonagall was someone who made judgements on people without bothering to get to know them, in many ways the woman was an older version of Granger. Both were rule abiding, both worshipped the ground that Albus Dumbledore walked on, both were completely inflexible people and unable to realise that the world beyond their view was much more that they thought.

Selina hated that sort of person. That sort of dependence was full of holes, that sort of person was incapable of independent thought and would always need guidance, even in old age, like McGongall.

Alastor Moody was someone that Selina respected, and it wasn't because of his track record as an auror. It was because he saw the world differently, maybe he saw the world the way Selina did, but the girl was certain about that. She barely knew him. All her knowledge on him came from Aunt Bella, apparently the old auror had taught Bellatrix, already a powerful and talented witch, everything he knew. God, she was scary.

Selina ignored the rest of the Weasley family, uncaring about what they thought about her presence here in this very office that Dumbledore used to look down over his domain.

Selina got to the point, " Why am I here ?"

Dumbledore smiled in that patented, and rather irritating, grandfatherly manner, " Selina, my dear girl, how was…what was that school called ? Ah, yes, Roedean ?" he asked, almost like it was an afterthought, and not something that he'd say in a normal conversation.

Selina caught the double meaning of that statement. She'd gathered enough from Aunt Bella to know that Dumbledore had cocked up the whole child who lived thing, and that he intended to bring her into his world. The only way he could influence her was to have her transfer to Hogwarts, expecting Selina to jump for it, not caring if the girl in question was happier where she was at the moment.

Selina gave a sweet smile like she didn't have a clue what the old man was about to do, " I'm enjoying it, thank you. I'm going to sit my exams later on this year."

" Ah yes, about that," Dumbledore said, putting on an apologetic voice that was easily seen though by Snape, who was sneering in the shadows of the room, and by both Selina and Bellatrix, " I'm afraid you wont be attending muggle school any longer."

If the Order was expecting her to protest and go into a childish tantrum, then they were disappointed. Selina had expected this, but she wanted to bring it all out into the open.

" Why ?" she asked, making sure her voice was colder than a wind from the artic.

Dumbledore's voice was calm, but Selina could feel the annoyance from the old wizard. Why was he annoyed, was it because he'd fucked up big this time, or was it something else ?

" I made a mistake. Lord Voldemort announced that you were the one that defeated him on Halloween all those years ago."

" I know," Selina said, much to everyone's surprise. She clarified so then there wouldn't be any misunderstanding. " I discovered this years ago. I'm glad Aunt Bella didn't tell you," she added, looking at her aunt. Bella looked down, she knew that Selina didn't want the full extent of her knowledge and power revealed for the benefit of the Order.

At once there was pandemonium with everyone speaking at once, arguing and shouting both questions and abuse at her.

" How could you not tell us ?"

" You're a liar, how could you know ?"

Questions like that were shouted at her, but Selina was aloof. Quietly, she held out her hand, and a ball of magic appeared in her hand. At once everyone shut up.

" This spell was developed by the Sumerians, it cannot be faked. And if one of you accuses me of faking it, I will take you apart, along with this room."

The memory was played, showing Lord Voldemort in all his glory, and making quite a few people scream. These people were supposed to fight the man, and yet they were afraid of him. Understandable, but really Dumbledore should've recruited people with spines. Everyone in the room watched as Voldemort murdered the babysitter, uncaring about the young woman he'd murdered. Then they all saw him point his wand at both Dan and Selina, clearly wondering which one to go for.

When they saw him go for the girl in the cot, they realised this was proof beyond the dark lord's boastings that Selina, and not her brother, that was the one to defeat Voldemort. The memory didn't end there, and Bellatrix knew that Selina wanted justice for all the pain and misery she'd had meted out to her all her life.

Everyone saw Lily and James go hysterical over the near destruction of the manor, saw how both of them fawned over the twins. But when Dumbledore made that announcement that Daniel Potter was the Boy who lived, everyone in the Order saw the change. Both Potter parents started to fawn all over Daniel, calling him " My little hero," and things like that, before handing over Selina to Bella, like she was an afterthought.

In the real world, Lily was watching the memory, unable to tear her eyes away from the image. When she saw the way her younger self handed her daughter as a baby over to her godmother, she wanted to jump through the memory ball and shake her younger self and Dumbledore. But as she couldn't, then she cried her heart out. Selina spared her a contemptuous look. Understandably, by this time everyone wanted the memories to end. Unfortunately, the memories didn't end, and Selina wanted them to see them. She showed them growing up alone, with only the Potters idiot friends for company and the House elves of the family, some of Lily's friends even sniping at her for not being like her brother, or her parents. The 4 year old girl, realising that her parents hated her. The beatings she received from her parents, which made Lily cry harder, and James to look pained.

They never stopped either, the bad memories, Selina made quite sure of that. Selina showed them her happier memories, the memories of being trained by Bellatrix. Everyone in the Order knew better than to cross Bella Black, they knew how dangerous she was, that Bella truly didn't care about the directive of the Order was to try and turn their enemies back to the light, something that had almost seen her getting herself kicked out of the ranks more than once, but she was a powerful witch with incredible talent, and Dumbledore would be a moron if he got rid of her. But as a teacher, she was both strict and fair. Everyone could see she was trying to make Selina reach her full potential. They saw that Selina only floundered with spells once, and then master them quickly. As a comparison, the Order watched as a younger version of Dumbledore and a few members of the Order that the headmaster had selected try and teach Dan magic. They all saw the side by side comparisons; they saw Dan mastering spells after a lot of practice, whilst Selina only needed to be exposed to it once before it was in her memory. If anyone in the room saw Dan's face, they would have seen an angry boy with a red face, with jealously in his eyes.

The Order saw her muggle education, saw how happy she saw in a different world where no one knew her and her family's history, whilst the magical ones showed everyone how miserable and morose she was.

Selina cancelled the memory spell, noting the looks of sadness and sorrow on quite a few faces, but couldn't find it inside herself to care properly.

" After seeing that, what makes you think I want anything to do with you ? What makes you think I want to come to this place ?" she asked, but she knew that these people weren't going to let her go. Look at the ruin Dan called his life.

Dumbledore had watched those memories, seeing how his one mistake had destroyed this girls life, but with clear determination and sheer will she'd managed to rise above it. Like everyone else, they'd seen her delight in the muggle world, seeing as no one knew her past, she was able to make friends without people trying to get close to her because of her previously famous brother. Dumbledore knew that the training he could provide Selina would need to be good in order to win her over. The memories showed a girl who valued knowledge and action, so the old man decided to appeal to her through that one little chink in her armour.

" Selina, no offence to your Aunt Bellatrix, but I can teach you things that you would never be able to learn of in the muggle world. I know Lord Voldemort, and if he finds you now then he will kill you." Dumbledore said, trying to appeal to her, his eyes twinkling as he laced his words with magic, a mild but illegal form of compulsion.

It didn't work, but even Selina knew that Dumbledore had spoken the truth about one part of that last statement, the fact Dumbledore knew Lord Voldemort, and as the saying went_ Know thy enemy_, but she wasn't going to admit that Dumbledore's knowledge on the subject was helpful there was another discrepancy, the fact Dumbledore hadn't acted on his knowledge of Voldemort, nor did his actions in the last war have any devastating effect. Dumbledore had had the ability, the power, both magically and politically to put an end to the reign of terror, but instead had decided to sit back and let the devastation and losses mount continuously without any care, it was like he was in his own private world, and Selina definitely didn't want to be trained by a dozy and dopey old man with a deluded piece of muscle that people called a brilliant brain. She also noted the magic lacing in the old man's tone, but filed it for later.

Instead she said simply, " I'm not going." her eyes were challenging, and someone she'd expected spoke up, how predictable.

James spoke up, " Oh yes you are, you're a Potter and -" he was cut off when his daughter spoke to him in a voice as cold as the arctic.

" And I was struck off the roster for this school when I was a kid. Do you really think I wouldn't overhear you ? I overheard you talk about me as if I was invisible but I was only a foot away ! Are you so stupid that I would forget all that ? Don't insult me, father." Selina spat the last word like it was a curse.

Turning back to the headmaster, she carried on, " You're wasting your time, I'm not coming to this school so then you can play games with me ad my life. Unlike my brother I don't like people meddling in my life. By the way, if I did come to Hogwarts, would you have made dumb and dumber break off their friendship with Dan and make them cosy up to me ?" Selina asked, gesturing towards Ron and Hermione, who now looked pale. Selina turned a sneering face towards Dan.

" Didn't you know, Danny boy, that your two friends were paid for by the headmaster ? Weasel here would be getting that Quidditch captaincy you yourself have been bragging about since you were 5, and the bitch here, well she would be getting access to both the Potter and Dumbledore libraries." Selina finished smugly, delighted to put another wrench in Dumbledore's plans. She didn't need to wait long for the explosion, but it was from one of the people she'd expected, but it hadn't been in the right order.

Dan stood up, white with rage. He turned to his mentor and asked, pleaded more like, desperately with Dumbledore.

" She's always been jealous of me having friends. She's lying, isn't she ?" the boy asked pathetically, not looking at all heroic.

Dumbledore didn't answer, internally he was filled with rage that this _girl_ had put a wrench in a plan he'd had in mind for her.

Dan looked towards his stony faced friends, pleadingly. But their silence and expressions confirmed it. His sister was telling the truth. Dan looked like his whole world had come crashing down. Even though she hated her family, Selina wasn't heartless. In truth, the female Potter twin was quite surprised by the lack of argument from Granger and Weasley, but figured they didn't care anymore about their relations with the Potter family.

" Dan," she whispered. When the boy turned his distraught face towards her, she said comfortingly, " Can you see now why I don't want to attend Hogwarts, or that I never wanted your fame, especially if the headmaster himself was manipulating events from behind the scenes ? This is what he does, he never cared about you, now he wants to do the same with me. He was just sucking up to you, and he was making mother and father do the same. They don't care about their children, they're not human. They're fame suckers. That's all they care about. All they cared about was getting their stupid faces in the papers and on magazines, never about what you or I wanted."

Before the twins parents could protest, Selina carried on, wrapping an arm around her shaken brother's form.

" Dan, get out of Hogwarts. Get out while you still can, go somewhere different, and lose the pompous arse. Become that sweet twin of mine again. This isn't your war anymore. Lord Voldemort will be coming after me, not you. He doesn't care about you. Leave, or lose your life for a bunch of people who've fucked your life up. Can you see now why I despise this world, and everyone and everything in it ?"

Dan nodded. " Yeah, I do." he looked into his sisters brilliant eyes, " You're right, Selina. I think I will leave." they were interrupted by the one person who had a great deal to say.

James was getting tired of this, firstly his daughter had upset her mother when all Lily had wanted to do was welcome her back, then she'd shown those memories. Seeing the way he and his wife had suddenly turned a blind eye towards Selina after Dumbledore had made that announcement was painful, but still, was it really their fault ?

Now she was telling her brother he was better off somewhere else, whilst his parents were fighting an honourable fight.

" No, you wont," he spoke angrily, getting up and glaring at the twins, both of them no knowing which one he was angrier at the most. " Dan, you'll stay at Hogwarts and you'll help us fight you know who. Selina, you'll attend Hogwarts, or-"

Selina couldn't believe her luck, " Or what, you disown me ? Please, you've wanted to do that for years, but since I was out of the way you left me alone to my own devices. Besides, you disown me and you'll get rid of your path to fame. You wont want that, you spineless bastard."

Snape gave a dark chuckle, " She's got you there Potter, your daughter's smarter than you are."

James turned towards this new target, " Shut it, snivels, this isn't anything to do with you."

Dumbledore raised his wand, and fired off a noisemaker charm which echoed around the room like a cannon shot.

" Enough !" he shouted, turning his glaring face towards Selina, " You will attend Hogwarts, and that is the end of it !"

Why was it, whenever Albus Dumbledore said something people took it for gospel ? Selina shook her head, " No."

Judging by the stunned silence, and the bulging eyes with an angry mouth from the headmaster, no one had ever said no to the old bastard. Then again, Selina wasn't like these people, and Dumbledore was so obsessed by his own image that he was out of touch with the real world.

" What did you say ?" James asked in a whisper, unable to believe his daughter was continually defying the greatest wizard in the world.

Selina smirked, but it came off more as a sneer as she contemplated her father's brainpower, " I. Said. No." she spoke slowly, like she was speaking to a retarded child who wouldn't get anything right.

" I've got news for you, Selina, you're going to Hogwarts and you'll be grateful for it !" James stood up and shouted, losing his control.

That was the worst thing to say, Selina stood up and shouted, and a wind of magic swirled around and round, " Grateful ?" she whispered, something that was overheard in the rising wind inside the room. " Grateful ? GRATEFUL ?" She screamed in rage, her father's arrogance and ill chosen words breaking her incredible control.

" WHY SHOULD I BE GRATEFUL TO YOU, _FATHER ? YOU_, AND THAT VAIN COW NEXT TO YOU NEGLECTED ME ! YOU FOISTED ME OFF ONTO DOZENS OF PEOPLE, AND ALWAYS, _ALWAYS_ AS A SECOND THOUGHT ! I WAS HAPPY AT ROEDEAN, HAPPY ! NOW YOU'RE TRYING TO TAKE ANOTHER GOOD THING FROM ME, DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT THAT ? OF COURSE NOT, SINCE WHEN HAS THIS MISERABLE WORLD EVER CARED ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE ?" Selina screamed as the wind smashed a few more of the struggling headmaster's possessions.

Dumbledore had his wand out, trying to stop the wind, but he couldn't. When Bellatrix had told the Order about the mental powers Selina Potter possessed, he hadn't believed them, even though it had been reported in the past that many witches and wizards had the power to use magic without wands. Even a wizard as powerful as himself could barely levitate a cup, never mind create a wind like this without a wand. Now he'd seen the phenomenon Dumbledore was at a loss of how to entice Potter to his school.

Hermione decided to add her own voice when the wind died down, " You should be grateful to the headmaster for even allowing you a chance for a place at Hogwarts, and to your parents for showing you love." she said in her prim and know it all tone.

" Ah, I was wondering when you'd speak," Bella sneered. Like a good number of people in the order she didn't like Hermione, more or less for the same reasons as Selina did.

" No, she's right !" this from the opinionated Molly Weasley, who up to now had managed, somehow, to keep her gob shut, but she decided her own opinion was needed. Molly sent a glare towards the unconcerned Selina, " Her parents are nurturing, they know what's best for her ! You should listen to them, girl !" she said to Selina.

Selina vanished from where she was standing, and then reappeared right next to her parents, " Why should I waste my time with these..." she vanished, making everyone gasp, and Hermione to say, " You can't disapparate inside Hogwarts" but no one listened to her, then she reappeared right in front of Molly, startling her, " gormless idiots ?" she vanished again. Dumbledore turned his astonished gaze to a smirking Bella, " Where has she gone, Bella ?"

Selina's voice echoed around the room, " _Oh, I'm still here, Dumbledore. I'm merely proving a point."_

Dumbledore stood up, " What point ?" he asked the room at large, ignoring the Order members. Looking at them he ordered, " Look around and search." As the order members looked around the room, inside every nook and cranny, Selina's mocking laughter echoed around the room, higher in pitch than her voice had been.

"_ Can't you people see you're wasting your time. As long as I don't WANT to be found, then I remain hidden. How's this for security, headmaster ?" _

The way she said his title in the school made Dumbledore lose his temper, " How dare you hide ? How dare you defy me or your parents !" he shouted, making everyone forget their searches and duck in fright. If the old wizard expected her too be intimidated, he was deeply disappointed. Instead, the laughter grew louder, louder, and it made everyone, including Bella, clap their hands to their ears. Selina was still laughing when she rematerialised in front of Dumbledore. She stopped laughing when she spoke, " Oh, please. The art of disguise is to hide in plain sight, you people use glamour charms and all that, but you still think that Voldemort's gonna come up behind ya, and kill ya. In this case, I was still standing where I was before, I just...willed myself to be invisible. There's nothing you can do, and if you try binding that power, then you'll end up in an early grave," the cold resolve, the body language and the tone of voice made everyone see that Selina was telling the truth.

Selina glanced over at Auntie Bella, " Nice seeing you again, auntie. Stay out of trouble, I'll be in touch with you." turning to Dumbledore and her parents, she added, " I'll be back."

Closing her eyes, Selina concentrated hard on her power and the power of the wards, she managed to match her magic with the wards, and then...pushed. The Order watched as Selina vanished again, only this time taking her stuff with her, and it was closely followed by a sound that was a cross between a bell clanging and a massive pane of glass being hit with a rubber mallet.

Snape couldn't help but comment, " Well, that could've gone better."

* * *

><p>Bella leant against the wall of her house in Dorset, a sigh escaped her lips. After Selina had made her getaway, Dumbledore had mobilised the Order in the task of finding her and bringing her back to " the light ", it never occurred to him, or his followers, that they weren't dealing with a normal witch, but then again logical thought was beyond Dumbledore.<p>

As soon as her awareness came back to her, Bella noted the presence of Selina's suitcase. A shadow moved, and Bella took out her wand. The shadow turned into her grinning goddaughter.

" Hi, auntie Bella." Selina smirked at her.

**NEXT TIME - TRAINING IN AMERICA. ( please note, i'll be starting that one from scratch, and it's gonna take a while. so be patient.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Training in America.**

**"**Hi, auntie Bella," Selina smirked at her.

Bella put her hands on her hips, a mock glare on her face, " I thought you'd gone by now."

Selina pouted, " What? Leave my dear sweet auntie without a goodbye? No way."

Selina grabbed her aunt by the hand, and dragged her into the living room and on to the sofa. When the two women got comfortable they started talking.

" I'm leaving when I say my goodbyes," Selina said. Bella knew there was no talking her goddaughter out of this. The two women got comfortable, with Bella studying her goddaughter for a moment before she remembered her manners.

" Would you like some tea?"

" Love some, please." Selina smiled, then she got up and went to help Bellatrix make it. Bella, who was used to this, gave Selina the task of getting the basics and cut down on the time it took to make it. When they got back to the living room, they had two cups of steaming sweet tea. When they got comfortable again Bella started the conversation, " Like I said, I thought you'd gone. Dumbledore's got the whole ministry and the Order looking for you?"

Selina quirked a brow, " The Ministry? They've changed their attitude, last time I'd heard they were shredding Dumbledore's reputation to pieces, now their helping him."

Bellatrix nodded, remembering only too well the looks she received from various people in the Ministry due to her closeness to the Potters, but they were wrong if they believed that she was loyal to the former Boy who Lived, Bellatrix was loyal to Selina. One of the few people to believe that Voldemort had returned, Bella, unlike some members of the Order, had made the effort to hide her beliefs. Fudge, always the political animal, had made a mess of the whole situation. The repercussions were incredibly severe; the auror department was now downsized due to Fudge's paranoia, they hadn't had recruits from the Auror academy, and on top of that the Dark Lord was back and he wasn't going to give the Aurors a time and address where and when he'd strike next. That was all Fudge's fault. If the little coward didn't get his act together, and start providing for the war effort instead of fucking around, then he was going to be ousted. Bella wouldn't be sorry if that happened.

Bella's own relationship with Fudge was hardly cordial, he was afraid of her, he knew that she was more than capable of killing him whilst his best shot would barely get past her defences. It was the same with that toad like creature the little bastard kept near him, like a pet, although Bella was sure that was how Fudge viewed his henchwench, Dolores Umbridge. Umbridge, with her stance and views on those who weren't human but had human characteristics, like Centaurs and Merpeople, was well known, and because of that Bella could see a problem. Umbridge was giving the death eaters more angry followers, beings that would love nothing more than to see people like Fudge and Umbridge disappear, preferably in blood. Bella had always hated the toad, they'd attended Hogwarts together, and they'd become enemies. Umbridge had tried desperately to hex her one time, she'd felt that Bella, being a Black, should be in Slytherin, but unfortunately she'd picked on a Black who wasn't only highly intelligent but incredibly dangerous with a wand. The toad, not living up to her boasts of being powerful, ended up in the hospital wing for a fortnight. She may've gotten a detention, but Bella thought it was worth it. When they both went to work for the ministry, Umbridge had tried to get her fired a couple of times, but Amelia Bones wouldn't have it. Firing an Auror was for the Head of the DMLE, and Umbridge had no jurisdiction in that department, much to Bones' pleasure since the woman hated Umbridge as much as she did. It wouldn't have mattered, there were many Aurors that would've loved the toad to die.

At last, Bella replied to her goddaughter's remark, " Yeah, but Fudge wants to" be seen doing something,"" she said, making a crude but fairly accurate impression of Fudge's weak and pathetic tones. Selina, who'd met the Minister during her brother's eleventh birthday party, briefly, had sneered with disdain at the pathetic weakling, and now she laughed at the impression.

" Tell me auntie," Selina asked, getting control of herself again, " do you believe that Fudge will fight in the war, make an effort?"

" No," Bella replied without having to think about it. " He's weak, he listens to the wrong people all the time, he accepts bribes, and now that the truths have been revealed, about Voldemort's return and that your the one to defeat him then he'll try his hardest to be seen with you, to" help " you," she made air quotes there. Sel snorted, Fudge wouldn't know what to do with her, he wouldn't tell her what end of the wand was which. As a Minister for magic on the side of Albus Dumbledore more of an issue. Fudge would be listening to Dumbledore, forgetting his paranoid and delusions about the old wizard trying to take over the Ministry, and what Dumbledore said, Fudge would do, like a puppet. After taking those bribes from death eaters, Fudge wouldn't know the difference.

Selina nodded, " I agree, Fudge will be listening to Dumbledore, and one of his priorities would be to make sure that I stay in the country, and being under their collective thumbs too. That's one of the reasons I need to leave the country, and not come back for a while."

Bella shook her head, the girl should be worrying about boys, friends and stuff like that. Stuff a normal teenage girl worried about, but no. With people like Voldemort, Dumbledore, and now Fudge, looking for her, hounding her, the girl didn't stand a chance.

" When are you leaving?" Bella asked, hoping she could spend quality time with Selina; since she went to a muggle school, the two girls hadn't had much social time together, and now this. Bella wanted to spend as much time as possible with her.

Selina knew what her aunt was thinking, " Don't worry, I'm not going yet. I'll be going the day after tomorrow.

Bella smirked, which was copied by Selina.

* * *

><p>Bella woke up, her eyes tired. After a wild day shopping, laughing, going into the city, buying all sorts of clothes and accessories for Selina's journey. They bought all manner of clothes, gym clothes, new jumpers and boots. After picking London apart, the two women saw a movie at the cinema, followed by a night at a club. The two girls had attracted much attention, and they'd gotten quite drunk, but they had enough control to get back to the house.<p>

Sitting up in bed, Bella clutched her head, and moaned, her head pounding and making her feel like she had an army of trolls and giants pounding her brain into dust.

" Oooohhhh!" she moaned, closing her eyes in pain. Staggering out of bed, she had to use her hands to guide herself out of the room, and look for Selina. When she got to the room her goddaughter slept in, she looked in, seeing the unkempt room. Selina was gone.

Bella's heart went cold. Selina had gone without saying goodbye. Heartbroken, Bella was about to leave. A beeping sound stopped her, and Bella swung round. On the bedside table was a mirror, and Bella's alcohol addled brain, saw that it was one of Selina's two way mirrors

" Selina Potter." Bella said clearly. At once the image changed from the reflection of a woman who looked as if she'd just spent a night at the bottom of a ride at an amusement park into the visage of her goddaughter. Bella narrowed her eyes; Selina was looking neat and tidy whilst her dear auntie was suffering from a hangover.

" Hi Auntie," Selina smirked at her, " you look like shit." She commented. Bella glowered at her, " Why didn't you say goodbye?"

Selina's smirk disappeared, " You were unconscious and barely made any sense when I tried to shake you awake, you kept muttering for some guy to shag you, make you pregnant, and that you were a fairy godmother, talk about weird fantasies."

Bella's glower evolved into a full blown glare, a growling sound was now coming from her throat. Hurriedly, Selina changed the subject, " OK, I did pour a good amount of hangover potion down your throat, so you can't complain. It took me the best part of the morning to do the same," she finished, closing her eyes and moaning. Bella smirked at her goddaughter, seeing she wasn't even over her own hangover yet, but she was recovering.

" When did you get to America?"

Selina opened her eyes, " I got here over an hour ago, I used a portkey of my own design, I'm in San Francisco, I've already checked myself into a hotel. I'll be looking for work in the next few days, then I'll put myself into another school."

" When will you be studying magic?" Bella asked.

Selina sighed, " I've only just arrived, I need to set my digs up and make contacts. I need a new apartment, I need to get food and make a living. I can't study magic straight away."

" Do you need money sent to you?" Bella asked at once, desperate to stay in contact with her goddaughter.

" No," Selina replied, " but if I need anything I'll let you know. I'd better go, I'll stay in touch."

The mirror went black and changed back into Bella's own reflection. Sadly, Bella took the mirror and went back to her bedroom to sleep off the worst of the hangover.

* * *

><p>At the hotel she was staying at, Selina was eating her five star meal with relish. She'd spent the whole day looking for both work, schools, and of course somewhere new to live at. Selina had found a new flat, and bought it using her Potter allowance that had been changed into dollars. The money she'd made from her heists in Brighton, the " Cat ' she called herself, had managed to steal $16, 000 worth of jewellery, and Selina had had the goblins change it for her. She now had a bank account with the local Gringotts branch in the magical community, here in San Francisco. She'd bought a flat in the San Francisco equivalent of Diagon Alley, and she was going to move in tomorrow after the basic furniture had been put in.<p>

This meal was her last in the hotel, and she was savoring.

Selina may have told the magical world back home that she hated it, but the art of disguise was how to hide in plain sight. She was using that philosophy for this one. The world was a big place, and she knew that Dumbledore would use every contact he had around the world to search for her. The one problem was that Bella was her best known supporter, but Bellatrix could look after herself.

In front of her was a list of things she needed to do, at the top of her list was to find people who could teach her magic, but fortunately in America there was a wide variety of people she could meet and interact with. The second part of the list detailed non magical training; she needed to keep up her marital arts and athletic training.

It would be tricky, but she'd be able to do it.

Her new home was large and spacious. It was a dimensionally expanded flat, which was a common thing in the magical world, it alleviated the issues of homelessness that afflicted the mundane world by a massive degree, meaning space was no object. Selina had spent a week looking for new furniture and things to spruce the place up, the flat had two entrances, which was lucky, one faced the muggle side of the barrier containing the magical street, whilst the other, logically, faced the magical side. She used a mix of magical and non magical again. Considering the styles Selina was hard pressed to note the differences, here in Magical America the mixing of magic and non magic was common, and they used a magical form of electricity. Selina made a mental note to study as much techno instead magic as physically possible.

Selina was just finishing the painting of her flat, and once she was finished with her work, she took the time to admire what she'd done. The living room now had a midnight blue feel, the furniture was ornately carved and with beautiful but not overzealously stuffed armchairs and sofa. The floor was a varnished wood, emphasis on the cosy feeling now coming from the room, and there were now soft rugs of deep purple on the floor. There was a book shelf along the wall, just waiting to be filled with texts. The gymnasium was almost finished, it had a treadmill, a rowing machine and all the weight lifting supplies needed to keep her in shape. There was even a holographic feature, if Selina wanted to practice dueling of any variety then she could, just by setting the hologram. She'd practiced the feature already, and sent the Goblins a thank you letter for recommending the place.

As the months passed Selina was able to juggle a life of public education, working in a bar in the Magical Street, where she attracted her fair share of attention. During the night, she attended a college studying magic. Selina had studied magic for a long time, studying potions, charms and transfiguration. But in America she hadn't expected to study Wiccan magic, but now she was and was instantly amazed that people in Britain were so blind and ignorant about what there was in the world.

Techno-magic, a creation in the late 1970s, was a boon to magical development. Magic and technology had never been compatible, but an American wizard had found a way of combing magic and technology together. In the past all attempts had failed because they kept trying to protect muggle technology from magic itself, but then Armando Raven, the wizard in question, had hit upon the idea of using magic to power the technology, and he'd studied the ambient magic. It was delicate work, but his work inspired others. Armando had created the foundations of a new magical science.

Techno-magic wasn't the only art Selina studied during her time in America, she went on courses for dueling, studying many techniques. The duelers were wary of working with someone who didn't and couldn't use a wand, but Selina blew that out of the water when they saw her abilities. Selina was used to it very quickly, wandless magic in America was more common because the Americans promoted it more than they did in Britain.


	5. Chapter 5

Wiccan Magic.

Selina listened to the professor in charge of the class. They were learning about Wiccan magic, one of the many magics that Selina had wanted to study for years. Wiccan magic was a more...natural form of magic, there was no wand using of any kind. It was also more...spiritual, it had rituals and more religious tendencies than the magic Dumbledore and Voldemort used, with many rites of passage with various times of year being magically important. Potion brewing practicing was also used, the potions were delved far more than those in the magical world, with many more uses than the limited potions used normally by witches and wizards.

As Selina studied them, she also practiced them in the privacy of her new home. She practiced making the vanquishing potion and healing potions. Some Wiccan magic came from tribes in America, New Zealand, even Voodoo magic and the magic practiced by Witch doctors, even though Selina didn't see how sacrificing babies would help her. As she studied increasingly more Wiccan magic, she practiced it whenever she could, learning about the earthly qualities of the art as she did. If she thought about the magic her Aunt practiced in Britain, Selina would start seeing it as absurdly primitive, and that made her realise that Voldemort was powerful, but with only one form of magical science, and Selina pitied him for his stupidity. The fool claimed to be the most powerful wizard in the world, but he didn't seem to realise there was more to magic than wands.

Wicca wasn't the only magical science she was learning, the Americans had a wide range of magical arts to learn about, techno magic was only one of them, just like Wiccan was. Wandless magic was practiced in America, it seemed the people here were just as concerned about the lack of imagination and the " that's impossible" attitude of magical Britain. Aunt Bella had taken Selina to holiday once in magical France, and they'd seen how the people there, like those in America, used techno-magic, sealing Selina's desire to study more of the art. Aunt Bella had taken her to Australia, New Zealand as well, and Selina soaked up as many skills as she could, whilst she was practicing her surfboarding. For a small girl that was no small achievement. Selina didn't start at the beginning of learning techno-magic when she arrived in America, oh no, she'd started at a young age, but now she was here, where the art was first pioneered originally, she could learn all the new and practical theories. There was even a Magical Magazine detailing new and more radical experiments, and Selina used those to her advantage. Using the magazines, and her new knowledge, Selina made experiments in techno-magic, and knew these would be essential later on. Lord Voldemort was still out there, and she knew she would need to be ready.

Magic wasn't the only thing she was learning, Selina knew that wizards in Britain were bone idle about physical fitness, but Witches and Wizards like her Aunt Bella and Aurors weren't as complacent. A wand may save you with a spell, but running fast would and could save your life. Swimming helped with stamina and muscle fitness. Yoga and pilates helped the heart and the body become stronger, like a cat when it stretches.

Selina had no intention whatsoever about relying on magic, especially with a dark lord like Voldemort gunning for her. She joined karate classes, Judo, kick boxing and fencing classes. It was fortunate the college she was attending had a mundane curriculum otherwise Selina would've needed to juggle both her magical and mundane heritages. The college she went to had all sorts of classes on mundanes - Yoga, boxing, kick boxing, fencing, karate, ballet dancing, gymnastics. Selina had chosen this college with care, she knew that the curriculum would save her life, especially with the way it was taught.

As she was learning magic, Selina spent much time practicing for her animagus form. Through her research Selina discovered she was a multi mono Animagus, an animagus that could assume the appearance of One animal and their distant cousins. For instance, a wizard could find himself as a dog, and then a fox, then a wolf, and then eventually he would become any kind of dog, anything related to dogs would later become part of the animagis ability.

Selina, on the other hand, was a cat. Unsurprisingly. Her original form was a black cat, then she transformed into a Siamese, then a tabby, then a ginger, then she experimented with larger and more wildcats - puma, then serval, then black panther, then she became a lioness. As she went along she found she was able to change from one feline to another, whilst maintaining her form. If any wizard or witch tried this then they would be hard pressed, because of the power requirements, but since Selina used ambient and natural magic to maintain her form, she was able to experiment for longer periods. That was why Multi - mono Animagi were so rare, they needed so much magical power that they came dangerously close to burning out their magical cores.

Selina practiced her meta powers on her new ability, she found herself able to move faster and strongly than she would otherwise in her base form, but she'd needed to work at it since she was naturally stronger in her feline forms. She also worked on leaping across rooftops in her cat shapes before morphing back to her human form, and she was lucky she didn't drop like a stone. But skills like these would help her in her battle against Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore wasn't going to help her, she had no one to rely on but herself.


	6. Chapter 6

The Crossroads.

The Cat leapt from building to building in bounds that defied nature. Unlike the first time round in Brighton, this version of the cat wore a different outfit. Still wearing all black, the Cat now wore a pair of black trousers, black jumper, black gloves with retractable claws. On her head was a light and custom made helmet made from carbon fibre. The helmet had two " cat's ears," a pair of night vision goggles covered her eyes, and glowed with a supernatural green.

" Almost home," she whispered. But she didn't move from her spot, reflecting on the events of the last two years. So much had happened in that space of time. It had been 4 years since Selina Potter had arrived in America and started her training, two since she'd found herself in a Dojo run by a mysterious sensei. The sensei, already impressed with the ease Selina had used in breaking into his abode, decided to take her in and train her to the same standard of a ninja. It was there that Selina made a real enemy.

Kai.

Originally the sensei's top pupil, Kai had grown arrogant and complacent in his supremacy over the dojo, which he ruled with an iron fist. The sensei knew, that was why he'd allowed Selina to join, the only girl other than Megumi, a Japanese girl with a mysterious past. In a short amount of time, Kai found that he was no longer top dog in the Dojo. Kai hated Selina with a passion that could melt ice, but Selina was more than a match for the posturing peacock. Kai was good at memorising and throwing out moves like the karate kid, but that was all he could do, he couldn't improvise. Selina on the other hand, had something the sensei called Incredible hand-eye coordination and physical memory, which meant Selina saw a move just once and she's got it for life, giving her another advantage over Kai. Selina frowned as she thought about Kai, he'd vanished not long ago from the dojo, and hadn't been seen since. That worried Selina, she knew that Kai was a trained ninja with years of experience, but that experience was nothing to what Selina had over him. Kai may've been trained as a ninja, he may've been a good student once, but he wasn't like Selina. It had taken Kai years to master skills that took Selina a mere month to learn. A month. Selina was worried that Kai's grudge against her would result in doing something beyond stupid. She smirked as she thought about their first meeting, she'd been robbing a museum, only to discover he was after the same thing she was, an Egyptian artifact. Kai had used his superior skills to attack her, only to meet his match when she used her meta powers on him. It had been a draw then, but it was destined to be the setting for later conflicts with him.

Selina grimaced as she remembered only too well the scornful way the bastard had spat her gender at her, the way he'd repeated the word girl was like it was a personal insult to himself. Selina was so busy thinking about the past that it wasn't until her sixth sense blazed that she realised that someone had leapt down on the same rooftop she was on. Barely avoiding a kick to the head, the Cat leapt away, twisting her torso around and spinning her legs around so then they'd land evenly.

The Cat flicked her hands, flicking her claws, prepped for battle. When she found her enemy, she knew who it was. He wore a dark red jerkin, black breeches and boots. He wore a bandoleer with knives of various sizes on it, on his back and his belt were a Japanese katana sword, and two sais. Selina knew he wouldn't use those for a while, not until he was confident of victory.

" Hello Kai, love the new look. Where did you shop, I know there's a costume store only a few blocks from the dojo, but the masks a bit...I dunno, stupid." Selina baited him.

Kai gritted his teeth, he was indeed wearing a mask, a mask in the shape of a dog's head.

" Woman, I have spent many weeks gathering my self and my spirit for this hunt, I've found that my soul's in flux, like Yin and Yang. Only by killing you can I be free."

The Cat snorted, " You know, you didn't have to put on that costume," she put scorn into the word, the same sort of scorn that Kai had used to describe her gender two years ago, " to get me to call you ' Dogface.'"

It was pathetically easy to bait ' Dogface ' as Selina was now calling him, Kai always reacted in the same way to a taunt. For someone who was good at fighting, he was remarkably thin skinned. He growled, whipping out three throwing stars and hurled them at Selina, who managed to leap high into the air to avoid them.

" HELLHOUND!" Kai bellowed, " It'll be the last name you'll utter when I fulfill my vow and kill you."

Selina thought, _If__he__threatens__to__make__dog__meat__outta__me,__then__I__'__ll__laugh__my__head__off._

Kai patted his clothing, " You referred to my outfit ' Catwoman ?' You'd better, I'm wearing it because of you. You haven't changed at all, Catwoman, you still pick your claws in places where they have no place. Now you dress the part."

Now Selina was close to laughing, although the situation was serious. _I __suppose __I __should __be __flattered by __this, __it__'__s __said __that __imitation __is __the __sincerest __form __of __flattery, __and __all __that __jazz. __It __doesn__'__t __explain why __Kai__'__s __here, __and __what __he __wants._

Hellhound lunged for Selina, something Selina couldn't understand since it was an obvious feint. Selina waited for him to get close enough before she moved to the side, slashing Kai's face with her claws. The titanium alloy claws were charmed to never need sharpening, and considering how long they were they cut deep into Hellhound's skin.

Hellhound screamed in rage and pain, he whipped out one of the Sai's in his belt and two throwing stars. He didn't get the chance to throw the Sai at her. Catwoman's whip wrapped around the blade, with a tug it was torn from Hellhound's surprised hand. The Catwoman - Selina felt it described her better than " Cat, ' did, was unable to stop Kai from throwing the star though. The good thing was Kai had been in the process of throwing the star at the same time as the Sai, when the whip wrapped around the dagger, the aim was off. Selina still had to dodge though. Hellhound roared with rage and frustration. When he got his act together, he realised something important.

Catwoman was gone.

For a moment, Kai stood there, vulnerable and unbelieving. At first, he thought his hated enemy had ran away, but he thought better of it. Running away wasn't in Catwoman's vocabulary; she did follow him to the dojo afterall, and she never backed down from a fight. Kai searched the roof, keeping his eyes and ears pealed. As he looked around, he began feeling uneasy. It wasn't right, she was here somewhere, the silence made him almost afraid. Whump! He felt a pain in his groin.

" Surprise!" A familiar voice shouted from behind him through his agony, it got worse as he was spun around, his hands cradling his crushed nuts. He saw a black clad figure, then his world exploded in agony as he saw the silver glint of moonlight on her claws as they scratched his face and chest. Blinded by pain, Hellhound was completely vulnerable to Selina's kicks to the face, head, and legs. Her gloves were packed with lead shot, and that made an impressive level of pain for Hellhound.

" I finally had you, Nehko-Sheen," Kai gasped out in pain, spitting out the name the Sensei had bestowed on Catwoman when she was a student. " After a wait of two years, I almost completed the cycle."

Catwoman slashed at the recovering Kai, " What cycle? What're talking about, dogface?"

" Cat and dog, the Yin and Yang, you and I. It's - uh - almost appropriate that I earn my passage in this way."

Catwoman didn't really care about what Kai was talking about, but she wanted to know if his attack was because of some psychosis or genuine hatred for her.

" What passage?"

Kai smiled; he was recovering, his enemy was distracted, and he was almost ready to make his move. One chance...

" Passage into my rightful state! I must shed this weak Human skin for the power of the Hound!"

_Okay, __I__'__m __officially __dealing __with __a __nutter_.

Hellhound carried on, his voice becoming more fanatic. " Two years, two years, wench, I was on the threshold of entering the sacred realm of Velek, but you - you tainted the ceremony, you _**witch**_! Your _female_ hands touched the amulet I was about to steal that night, you spoilt my ritual. Your Yang cancelled out my Yin. Your actions threw this soul into flux!"

Catwoman couldn't believe the bullshit she was listening to, she'd known Kai was insane, but this took the biscuit. Kai used her shock to grab her hands, putting a knife into her hands and holding his arms open.

" Now you must undo your sin Selina Potter, what you did and set things right. Only you can free my soul. Free to finally meet it's full potential as a true hellhound!"

Selina held the knife in her hands, it was an inch from his chest. One move and Selina would end the war between them, but she couldn't do it. Selina wasn't a bloodthirsty woman, she liked to think of herself as a kind woman, a woman of character. The prophecy notwithstanding, Selina had no intention of killing anyone bar Lord Voldemort.

Kai waited, and he waited, but Catwoman didn't deliver the blow that would kill him. He looked his enemy in the face, and saw that her mouth was in a red line, the goggles stopped him from seeing into her eyes.

Catwoman shook her head, throwing the knife away much to Hellhound's horror.

" No Kai, I wont kill you." Her hand flashed out, clawing deep into the right side of his face. " You're one sick puppy."

Catwoman left, leaving behind a howling hound from hell. _If __I__'__d __thought __he __hated me __before, __I __was __wrong. __Now __he __hates __me. __He __won't __stop __until __one __of __us __is __dead. i'll bet he'll want that too be me._

* * *

><p>Catwoman landed in her apartment, taking off her mask when she heard a familiar voice speak from the shadows, " I am saddened you met Kai in that fashion."<p>

Selina jumped, her hand on her whip, then she saw the white clad figure of the Sensei. He was around her height, with a dignified Japanese moustache, but he made it more dignified, like he was some sort of nobleman. He wasn't alone, the petite form of Megumi was right next to him. Selina smiled at her, remembering the fun they'd had a few nights.

" Sensei, I um I can explain the outfit-"

The sensei smiled benignly, the difference between the Sensei and Dumbledore was this man meant it. " No explanations are necessary, Nehko Chan, from you."

" I don't understand." Selina whispered.

The sensei saw the bruise on Selina's face, and deflated, " That - your feud with Kai is my doing."

Selina shook her head, " No," she snapped firmly, " It's no one's fault but Kai's, he became too hotheaded, too arrogant and complacent. He believed he was better than everyone else in the dojo. Then I came along, you can't blame yourself for that."

The sensei smiled, " Ah, so the student becomes the teacher. As is natural about things. I agree with you, yet I do not. I cannot resist the urge to dispense some advice to you, my senior student. Megumi-" he said to the girl beside him. Megumi came forwards carrying a box. Without a word, she handed it to Selina, only the look in her eyes conveyed her feeling. Selina smiled at her, taking the box.

Selina opened it and gasped. Inside was a beautiful jade statue of a cat.

" It's beautiful. How did you - ?"

" It's said that those with green eyes share the Nehko-sheen - the spirit of the Cat. You and I, we are unique. We're blessed to see past the earthly plane and into the spiritual realms." The Sensei said.

Still in awe Selina whispered, " Thats - thats a little far out for me."

" Perhaps," the Sensei said amiably, " This is only the beginning. You will not walk alone forever. The gift is to give you good luck."

The Sensei and Megumi were about to leave, but Selina stopped them, " Wait, one question. Sensei, how did you remain so modest with the power in your hands?"

The Sensei, for the first time, laughed, " That's simple," With a nod, Megumi took off the cloak around the old man's shoulders, the one that earned him the nickname " Obi-wan" from Selina. The Sensei was a fit man for his age, his body still muscular and strong, but there was one difference. He had no arms.

" You see, Nehko-Chan, it's not so difficult."

* * *

><p>After the sensei left, Catwoman fell into a new round of thinking. The Sensei was on top of her thoughts, the fact a man so humble, so mild mannered was in charge of a dojo and was capable of beating a man senseless. The fact he could do so without the use of hands impressed her even more. Selina cast her mind back to the time she spent at the dojo - memories of the sensei, the meetings she held with him, the nights with Megumi, the fights with Kai...they all came to her at that point.<p>

Two years, two years of learning all sorts of new philosophies on tea making, medicine, enhancing the body. Selina had thought the time she'd spent in Britain had changed her, but when she entered the Dojo she realised the transformation was just beginning. Selina learnt a new sort of power, one that came from the knowledge of efficient use of her body parts and abilities, not just raw and unrefined strength. It wasn't just her body that changed, her mind gained a more relaxed alertness, rather than reasoned thought. The sensei also saw the benefits of yoga and pilates, which he incorporated into his regimen of training. Yoga and pilates helped the heart, strengthened the body, and brought out the spiritual side of the trainee - something Selina was sure helped push Kai off the deep end, but she couldn't be sure.

The last five years had improved her, but the hardest part was still to come. Her training was over, it was time for Catwoman to return home and make a difference.


	7. Chapter 7

I own neither Catwoman or Harry Potter. Please review my story, I need inspiration.

**Returning****Home**.

If anyone saw the girl step off the plane at Heathrow Airport they'd have run into a wall, she was supermodel beautiful, with an athletic body. Toned arms, muscles with a movie star worthy face, Selina Potter was beyond a doubt drop dead gorgeous. The fact she was wearing fashionable clothes helped her. It was a pity she didn't look happy with where she was. She looked around the airport, and a couple of people she passed heard this beautiful girl say quite clearly, uncaring about who she offended.

" What a dump."

Bellatrix Black was annoyed, considering that she was a member of the Order of the Phoenix and an auror of the British Ministry of Magic, that was saying something. With the people she worked for, Bella wondered why the Ministry bothered with intelligence. It had been a good 5 years since Selina had left Britain, and Dumbledore, Fudge and Voldemort were hunting her down. At least Voldemort was still pure about his aims, that is he still fought a war, but Dumbledore and Fudge, who were supposed to be opposing Voldemort, weren't. Dumbledore was still going on about how the death eaters should be forgiven and redeemed, and Fudge was just as inept, but in a more political kind of way. There were times Bella hated being an auror, at least Amelia Bones knew how important the war was, but even Amelia had her hands tied by Fudge, the stupid Minister just didn't get it into his head that the death eaters, people he was convinced were innocent, weren't the wonderful people he thought they were. Bella gritted her teeth into a growl at the thought of Dumbledore and Fudge hunting Selina down, she knew that Sel was fine. She wasn't worried about them finding Selina. Selina could stand right in front of the pair of them, and laugh at them without the two fools realising it.

Bella was broken from her thoughts by a familiar voice, " You shouldn't growl like that, Auntie B. Someone might think your a werewolf." A teasing voice chided. Bella looked around and saw Selina. She'd changed greatly, she was taller now, around Bella's height, she was toned like an athlete, but moved like a ballet dancer. Her clothes were fashionable and functional at the same time; jacket over a shirt, tight fitting jeans and shoes.

" Selina?" Bella whispered; this was the first time the two women had met in person, all the times they'd spoken to each other had been over the one way mirrors they had. Selina nodded, holding her arms open. Bella rushed into her goddaughters arms and the two women embraced for the first time in five years.

" Seriously, Fudge and Dumbledore have spent all their time looking for me? They haven't formed any new strategies for fighting Voldemort and the Death eaters?" Selina asked incredulously as she tucked into a piece of lettuce; even though they spoke to each other using one way mirrors the conversations were just ' how are you,' or the ' how're getting on?' kind, they kept the news of the war to a minimum.

Bella looked grim as she ate her own meal, " Yeah, Dumbledore's lost a lot of people in the Order because he wont fight, that he's spending too much time and effort looking for you rather than using those precious resources fighting the Dark lord and his followers, rather than look for a girl."

" I thought the prophecy was well known now?" It was true that people now knew about the prophecy, thanks to a desperate Fudge, who'd released it in a fit of stupidity a week after Selina had left for America.

" It is, but since you've been absent and no one's seen you for years, what else do you expect? Since you haven't been here, Selina, the magical world has needed to see that they can't rely on saviors all the time. People have lost faith in Dumbledore, Fudge has needed to buy the elections so he stays in power. It doesn't help the war effort, Fudge has tied the hands of the DMLE and anyone else who fights in this war." Bella replied. After a minute she spoke again, adding more to the growing horror story and making Selina wonder if maybe it'd been better if she'd stayed in America.

" Fudge isn't the Golden boy internationally, either." Bella said looking annoyed.

Selina frowned; she could see that Bella was irritated, going on angry. " What's wrong? What do you mean?"

" Fudge has refused international help, and when a group of Germans and Italians visiting the country helped repel a Death eater attack, the little bastard listened to Dolores Umbridge rather than his own sense, and had them kissed by dementors." Bella said in one breath.

" What?" Selina hissed in disbelief; Selina would be the first person to admit the current Minister for Magic in Britain was a moron, but to order the Dementor's kiss on foreign wizards...

" What the hell were they thinking?" Selina asked, referring to both Fudge and Umbridge, vaguely aware of the latter politician, and knowing that she hated non humans.

Bella shrugged, " You got me."

" What was the reaction of the rest of the magical world?" Selina asked. She wanted to know, needed to know, if the rest of the magical society were just going to do nothing as usual and just listen to whatever bullshit Fudge handed them on a plate. She was also interested in Dumbledore's reaction; his connection to the ICW meant he must've mediated the issue...

" Fudge handed them the story that they were death eaters themselves, sent to cause confusion, and the idiots bought it. Amelia Bones was furious Selina, and so was Dumbledore. The problem is Britain is now at war, that means that Fudge and Umbridge wont be extradited for the crimes, and the dementors responsible wont be destroyed."

" He should've been kicked out!" Selina shouted, momentarily forgetting that Fudge had cleverly manipulated the story that made the foreign wizards out to be death eaters.

" Keep your voice down, don't shout at me for giving you information Selina, you did ask." Bella scolded Selina.

Bella changed the topic to something else less depressing than thinking about Fudge, " What've you been doing? Last time I spoke to you, you said that you'd joined a dojo?"

Selina nodded, and then she launched into the story of how she'd been committing a robbery before she ran into Kai-it was a good thing that Bella knew about her dual identity, otherwise she'd have been in trouble - Selina told her about the sensei, her relationship with Megumi, her feud with Kai, her last battle with Kai, and the gift the Sensei gave her. Selina soon gave her godmother an idea of what she'd been studying in the dojo, and how she intended to use that knowledge to fight Voldemort and the death eaters, now she was sure that list should also include Fudge and Umbridge.

" This knowledge, how do you intend to fight Voldemort?" Bella asked after a moments silence as she assimilated everything Selina had told her.

Selina had been thinking about this for a while, and had decided to use the name Kai himself, one of the most twisted and perverted people she'd ever met, and the name he'd given her.

Catwoman.

She smiled, " I become the Catwoman."

At Bella's confusion, she carried on, " I don't want Fudge or the others to know I'm here, besides I'm thinking of hiding and gathering intelligence without Voldemort knowing."

By now Bella was seriously confused, Selina wasn't making any sense, " What're you talking about?"

" As Selina Potter I'm at risk, Dumbledore and Fudge will try to control me, Voldemort will try to kill me. As...someone else, they wont know what to do. That someone is Catwoman."

" Who is Catwoman?" Bella shouted in annoyance.

Selina got up and walked out the room. She came back with a bundle in her arms. Bella found herself looking at Catwoman, well the mask and costume side of her. Selina carefully, reverently, placed the outfit on the table, and picked up the mask. She put it on, and Bella saw that with the mask / helmet on she couldn't tell any of Selina's features, even the eyes were covered by the lenses that enabled Catwoman to see in the dark.

" I'm Catwoman." Selina, now Catwoman, said proudly. She smiled, and now Bellatrix caught on to what Selina was proposing. As someone wearing a mask Selina would be able to do things no one else could, Fudge and Dumbledore would never be able to touch her.

Antonin Dolohov cursed as the death eaters he'd been assigned for this attack dawdled, the report for the Dark lord already composing nicely in his mind. Members of the Inner circle were required to give full reports on attacks to make sure the Dark lords aims were met, there was already and incentive to ensure this was met.

" Hurry up for Merlin's sake!" Dolohov whispered hoarsely, cursing the Dark lord for giving him this feeble bunch, they were Junior Death eaters, recruits, and they lacked the experience of older Death eaters. They also lacked the speed of elder Death eaters; they knew that the aurors or the Order would be coming, if they held this attack up...

They were nearing the home of the McMillan family, a well known light side family. They were here to make sure they wouldn't stay light sided for long. The Dark Lord had made it clear that those who weren't with him were against him. The death eaters were close to the manor when Dolohov heard a cry from behind, a strangled cry. _Probably__one__of__the__rookies__tripping__over__something,_ the 60 year old Death eater thought to himself irritated. He turned just in time to hear three of the other death eaters cry. When it went dark, they all panicked. _Fools,_Dolohov sneered, _don__'__t__these__toddlers__know__how__to__cast__a__lighting__charm?_Holding up his wand, he mentally cast the lighting charm. Nothing happened, frowning, he tried the spell again. Again, nothing happened. Now he was starting to panic. He moved around, trying to find his fellow death eaters, but he found nothing, but he heard them, heard them cry out. He strained his ears, he heard something. A crack...Someone apparating?

What Dolohov didn't know was that the darkness was only an illusion. Watching the 5 death eaters still standing was a woman dressed in black. Catwoman had overheard a few people in Knockturn alley, the dark side of Diagon Alley, talk and jeer over the fate of the McMillans. Some death eaters didn't know when to keep their gobs shut. Catwoman watched with amusement as the Death eaters stumbled blindly about, watching them as they cast lighting charms, only to discover there was no reaction from their wands. Actually, the place was bright enough that it was blinding. Catwoman herself wasn't blinded, she had special lenses that filtered out the ambient light.

Catwoman adjusted the bullwhip in her hand, flexed it, and then sent it towards a death eater who was less than 6 yards away from where she was standing. The whip coiled itself around the neck of the startled death eater; judging from the build, Selina was sure it was a girl, and with forceful strength, picked the death eater up off her feet with a cry. The crown of the death eater met the Catwoman's lead shot packed gloves head on, knocking the death eater unconscious.

Four to go.

Slipping a hand into her utility belt, the Catwoman took out two small circular objects. She took a moment to bear the objects before she threw them with a snap of the wrist. The devices spun through the air silently, whacking the death eaters on the head. They both went down with grunts. Catwoman watched the other two death eaters, noting them turn around at the sounds of their companions grunting as the collapsed to the ground. That was when Catwoman made her physical move; she gathered her energies, and leaped into the air silently, taking another of the circular weapons from her belt, but she didn't throw it. Instead she held it in her hand, she had another use for the weapon. She came down on the death eaters, using their blindness as a weapon in itself. She kicked both of them with a scissors kick to their heads. Catwoman used the weapon in her hand to whack them unconscious.

Breathing heavily, Catwoman rose to her feet. Her first night as death eater butt kicker...a success. Even so she knew she could do better. She picked a vial from her utility belt and went around the death eaters, binding and gagging them as she did whilst she poured the potion down their throats. It was a time delayed potion of her own design; a sleeping potion that had a form of veritaserum inside. She went back to Dolohov once she was finished, and simply left a little note on his forehead.

It read simply, _I__'__m__a__death__eater,__I__am__a__murderer.__Please__question__me._

Catwoman was confident that it would be done in the long run, but she was certain that people like Fudge and Umbridge would find a way to get these miserable excuses for human beings out of the noose. With that in mind she went back around the death eaters, and snapped their spines in a way that meant they were paralysed from the neck down. Brutal, but efficient. Hopefully it would mean that those people considering of joining Voldemort would think twice about the consequences.

Catwoman conjured a ball of magic in her hands, and simply flicked it towards the McMillan family wards. The McMillans weren't part of the Order, but they held connections with them. She launched a few more balls, imitating the killing curse as she did along with other spells. Reaching into the ambient magic, she continued her attack on the wards, it was a heady attack on the wards of a manor, but she needed to get their attention. When certain she'd done a good enough job, she hurled one last ball of magic into the air. This ball didn't strike the wards, instead it created a massive head in the sky.

A Cat's head.

" ...and when we got here, we found these death eaters trussed up. They show no signs of being cursed, but they've definitely been beaten up." Remus Lupin reported to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked at the faces of the Death eaters, smirking slightly when he caught the face of Antonin Dolohov and the note on his face; he'd long hoped to get Dolohov arrested, it was an ultimate insult that this piece of hippogriff shit had managed to retain a job at the Ministry after being known to behead muggle children...Normally Dumbledore would go for a forgive and forget policy with the death eaters, but there were some the Headmaster of Hogwarts truly believed didn't deserve it, Dolohov happened to be one of them. He fully intended on questioning the piece of scum when he woke up, in fact he would do it personally.

Dumbledore looked around the other faces, noting their ages. Over 3 of them still attended Hogwarts, but the others had been out of Hogwarts for a year or so.

" Is there anything else Remus? Any details on who did this to the death eaters?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the tired old werewolf solemnly.

Lupin shook his head, " No, except whoever did this used hand to hand combat. We've found bruises on the death eaters, and get this. They're paralysed." Lupin reported without expression, not even a hint of pity.

Dumbledore shot up like a cork from a bottle, this was a new development, " Paralysed?"

" Permanently from the neck down," Lupin reported.

Dumbledore mind raced. Who did this? The only clues were the crippled death eaters, the McMillan family's wards and the Cat head up in the sky. " What about the wards Remus?"

" The McMillans told me that the wards were hit with incredibly powerful curses, including the killing curse. That was what made them call us," Lupin said, " Ernie McMillan said that he peeked out the window of his room when the wards where hit, he used his telescope and he saw someone wearing black."

" Black? Was this person wearing a cloak?" Dumbledore pounced on the news.

" No, but Ernie said that the person wore some sort of mask with what looked like cat ears on top. He also says it was a woman." Lupin replied.

" A woman?" Dumbledore whispered. " Thank you, Remus. Continue searching the area, look for any signs of anything unusual and bring it for the next meeting."

" Yes, Albus." Lupin replied, taking the order without question.

Dumbledore turned away from the Manor, heading in the direction of the site where he could safely apparate away from the house and back to Hogwarts. The news that someone else was fighting the death eaters was both good and bad; good because the Order was no longer alone, bad because Dumbledore didn't know anything about them and what they planned to do. That sort of thing worried the old wizard, but there were other reasons why the news was bad; it meant that Fudge would jump to conclusions and order the Aurors, who had better things to do than play the Minister's games, to hunt this attacker down. Fudge believed everything he heard, that was his biggest problem. When he found out the Order held Antonin Dolohov prisoner then he'd order the man's release, Dumbledore had no intention of letting that happen; next to Snape, Dolohov was the only Death eater Dumbledore had at that moment.

He also took the time to ponder on the this new chess piece. It was clear she was a powerful witch, but the cat side didn't make any sense. Was it because of some gimmick, or was it something else? It was clear she'd left the death eaters crippled so then they wouldn't fight again nor kill innocents, but Dumbledore feared the implication that this new problem was going to start killing the death eaters.

The next morning, Selina cooked a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomatoes and fried bread for breakfast. Bella and her tucked in, and then Selina asked the question.

" You told me everything that's happened recently, but you haven't spoken about Dan. Why not?"

Bella had been dreading that question, but she decided to come out and say it.

" Dan's gone. He's left Britain."

Selina couldn't believe that; Dan had spent his entire life fawned over by the people of the wizarding world before Voldemort revealed the hideous truth of that halloween night. Selina had expected Dan to become another puppet again and join the rest of the cannon fodder. Now she found out that he wasn't worried her.

" Where is he?" Selina whispered.

Bella sighed, " After you left, the Order and the Ministry questioned me. They kept asking me where you were, but I told them nothing. Anyway, Dan wanted to fight his own way without the order interfering, so he asked if I could train him to fight hand to hand. I did, discovering that he was good at it. I made him leave the country, and travel to the East to learn martial arts."

Selina learnt from her godmother that Dan had learnt swordfighting, judo, karate, hunting techniques, and was now learning about ninjitsu, the art of the ninja.

" When will he come back?" Selina asked.

Bella sighed, " I honestly don't know, Dan's last letter said that he's found a girl in Japan, and he wants to marry her. I don't know if he plans on coming back."

**A/N****-****Well,****what****do****you****think?****Please****tell****me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Catwoman Begins. **

Black bodysuit almost invisible in the darkness, Catwoman moved easily about the deserted Ministry of Magic. She stepped into a lift, murmuring quietly underneath the piece of her mask that muffled her voice, " Ministry of Magic records, please." There was no real need to say please, but she felt like it. As the lift went down further into the labyrinth, Catwoman saw the various views on the walls. The Ministry lifts had special holographic portraits, the best description for them really, that showed the night sky and other sights seen during the night. During the day it would show daytime views. Catwoman had seen much more impressive magical displays for this, and she was willing to bet that visiting dignitaries frowned or scoffed at the lack of imagination, and the ridiculous desire for illusion the British wizarding world had.

Catwoman flexed her muscles, tensing them. She flicked her right hand, extending her claws. If there was anyone in the Ministry considering the times, then night would be the best time to find out. She wasn't here for a fight, but she'd give them a fight to remember. The lift stopped and the doors opened, for a minute Catwoman stood in the entrance, opening her senses. If there were any Death eaters, she'd feel their magic and hear them as they breathed and moved. Nothing. Moving silently, cautiously, Catwoman headed for the records room of the Ministry. Just because she hadn't felt any presence of the Death eaters, didn't necessarily mean there weren't traps left behind by the Ministry.

When she'd been a kid, Selina Potter had been brought into the Ministry by her Aunt Bella. Since the Potters had, at the time, neglected her before she was able to sufficiently take care of herself, Selina had been forced to spend her time with either the Potter elves or Aunt Bella. Bella hadn't been happy with her parents, but she'd taken the girl to the Ministry a few times. Even as a child, Selina was perceptive; she'd picked up on the bad vibes from Dolores Umbridge, or ' that ugly toad' as Selina had called her, who hated her at first sight, putting on that stupid creepy voice like she was trying to be kind. Bella hadn't been happy with the toad, telling her to, " Go away." The only person she liked was Amelia Bones, Bella's boss. Whilst she didn't like having a child no younger than her own niece arrive at the Ministry, Amelia had accepted it. In time she even brought Susan, her niece and one of the few members of the Bones family left alive after the First War. Susan had been shy, but she and Selina got along splendidly. Susan had soon met Daniel, and he made her cry, enhancing the bond between the two girls. Selina had been taken around the Ministry, but as a 4 year old Selina Potter she hadn't been interested in the Wizengamot chambers, she hadn't been interested in the different departments. As Catwoman, she was here on a mission, using her photographic memory to let her move about freely. She arrived at the Department of Records, running her finger over the doorlock, unlocking the door and disabling any hidden surprises, and leaving a warning charm on the door if she was disturbed.

The records room was basically a massive library built on four levels with a central office attached. All the records were held in incongruous books, but Selina knew each book contained a wealth of information on families and places in the Magical world. That was why she was here, she was here to steal a few of them. Checking at the desk, she found that all the family information, individuals was on the First floor, the location of magical places on the second, the treaties with various races and countries on the third and the fourth held the Ministry of Magic accounts and data.

Catwoman started on the family section first, removing the Potter file and files on people Selina knew were members of the Order of the Phoenix. She also removed files on individual people, then she became annoyed when she found that her own file was missing. Wanting to destroy it, Catwoman had hoped it would be here. She wondered if she should summon it, but decided not to. The last thing she needed or wanted was the Ministry alerted to her presence. If that happened then the world would discover her existence, which was hypothetical since the only people to see her properly were death eaters and from a distance other people. It was too soon for her to be known.

Catwoman also removed files on Ministry of magic personnel such as Fudge and Umbridge. That made her think that maybe her file was in the possession of the Minister himself. She did know Fudge was interested in finding her, although she doubted it had anything to do with the destiny Voldemort and Dumbledore had decided for her.

After taking files on various magical locations and magically messed the room up sending numerous files to the ground, Catwoman left the department and tried to find the Minister's office. For over an hour she wandered the corridors, then she came across the DMLE. She went in and looked around. Fortunately there was no one here. She looked quickly in Amelia Bones's office, using her magic to dampen some of the creative traps the devious Head of magical security had left behind. After a quick look around where she discovered the names of people Amelia were sure where Death eaters, Catwoman saw a name that made her pause.

Dolores Umbridge.

After learning from Bellatrix that Amelia and Umbridge had a long standing hatred, Selina wondered if this suspicion held water or not. She knew that hatred stopped people from feeling impartial, she only hoped the same wasn't true here. Selina herself hated Umbridge, the woman was a bigot, she hated those who weren't fully human, she was foul, cruel, but the main question was is she a Death eater?

Catwoman left the DMLE and carried on her search. She didn't find Fudges office, she found Umbridge's instead. Selina found it highly unlikely that anyone, including with Umbridge's questionable level of intelligence, would hide anything incriminating in her office. Catwoman carefully opened the door, finding no spells on the door. Clearly Umbridge felt that in the Ministry she was safe from anyone and everyone, no one would dare dream of breaking in. Unfortunately, none of those people were Catwoman.

When she walked in, Catwoman had to take a step back in disgust. The room was done up in lurid mauve with hints of pink. Frilly drapes were on a dresser where stood a number of items with the Umbridge family crest, showing how proud Umbridge was of her family. There were also vases dotted about the room filled with hideous dried flowers. The walls themselves had ornamental plates where hideous technicolor kittens with ridiculous bows and bonnets mewed around. Catwoman had to close her eyes and turn away from the hideous sight; a cat fanatic herself, Selina felt she had way better taste. She preferred feline objects d'art than the assorted trash Umbridge had.

To her surprise Catwoman discovered her file in Umbridge's desk, along with a small box filled with something that gave her cause for concern. Blood quills. Then Catwoman remembered Bella telling her Umbridge had become the latest in a long series of Defence teachers at Hogwarts, that she'd used blood quills to keep students in line. Selina had found it hard to believe but now she'd found a box filled to the top with the cursed things, she wondered if the rumour was true. Using her claws to remove one carefully, she checked it with her magic. It had been five years since Selina had been used, which is exactly how long it had been used. She checked another, then another, then another...they'd all been used. Putting the box back carefully, Catwoman left the office, taking the precious file with her.

* * *

><p>" Where did you go last night?" Bella asked Selina when the latter sat down for breakfast, looking slightly bedraggled. Some women might spend hours tending their appearances even before breakfast, but Selina didn't. Neither expecting anyone to visit or planning on meeting anyone other than Bella for breakfast, Selina looked a typical teen.<p>

Selina reached for the cereal box and poured a copious amount into her bowl, " I went to the Ministry." Ignoring her godmother's slack jawed look of shock, Selina calmly poured milk into her bowl, taking what looked like a gallon of the stuff.

Bella couldn't believe what her goddaughter had done. She'd known of course that Selina had intended to wage her own private war, but she hadn't expected Selina to go into the heart of Magical Britain. Bellatrix knew also Selina had issues, but she hadn't expected her usually smart goddaughter to do something so reckless.

Selina saw the look and heard the thought behind Bella's usually strong occlumency barriers, " I'm not reckless." She admonished her godmother. Bellatrix winced, she hated it when her goddaughter read her mind with ease. With her mastery of ambient magic, Selina was capable of many feats of magical manipulation and mind magic was one of them. She'd soaked up all knowledge of mind magic - reading and blocking her mind and developed her own methods for shielding it.

But Bellatrix wasn't going to let this one go, " Selina, you could've been caught, or worse. Do you know how many times the Death eaters have broken into the Ministry?"

It had been a rhetorical question of course, but Selina answered it anyway whilst dipping her spoon in her bowl and idly watching it fill with milk and cereal, " 67."

Rolling her eyes at the correct answer, Bella carried on changing her tack, " Okay, why did you go?"

Selina paused in eating her latest catch, " I wanted to gather information. I went to the department of records, and I swiped a number of files on various families and people, but what I was really after was my own file. It wasn't in the department of records though."

Bella was slightly surprised to hear that, but she knew she shouldn't have been. Selina Potter was a sore subject for both the Ministry and the Order, it was natural she'd be a subject of interest.

" Where did you find it?"

" Dolores Umbridge's office, and I found a number of blood quills in her desk. They've been used, I think when Umbridge was defence teacher." Selina said grimly.

Bella frowned. The rumor that Umbridge had used blood quills on Hogwarts students had been buried successfully by Fudge, by the revelation of Voldemort's return. Since then the only people who knew about it were members of the Order, who looked at Umbridge with even more hatred, Dumbledore, who must've known about the quills because of the school wards, Fudge and maybe even Bones, although if the Head of the DMLE had known, Bella knew that she would not've stopped unless Fudge stopped her. Bella found it hard to believe that Hogwart's fabled wards which had protected the school for centuries, had trouble discovering the presence of the quills. Bella knew Dumbledore was a powerful wizard, but the old man had been making many presumptions lately that ended up blowing up in his face. Bella wondered if the general theory Dumbledore was becoming increasingly senile was true. Selina would probably say it would. Even Wizards weren't immune from senility.

Bella changed the subject slightly, " What did you want the files for?"

" I want to destroy mine, for obvious reasons. I'd expected to find it in one of three places - the records library, Fudges' office, in Dumbledore's possession or Amelia's office."

Bella's look morphed into horror, " Please tell me you didn't break into Amelia Bones' office."

Selina nodded, " I did, but don't worry, There were spells, but I neutralised them."

" Selina, you've got no idea how dangerous that stunt could've been," Bella hissed, unwilling to believe her goddaughter could be so stupid. " Amelia Bones has been a big help to us, if you break into her office then she'll treat you like an enemy."

Selina was indifferent. She knew Bella had a point, but she knew that Amelia wouldn't know, " That doesn't worry me, I've got plenty of enemies lined up. One more wont make a difference. Besides I didn't touch anything."

" Except for your file and the files of dozens of people," Bella pointed out, starting to lose her temper. " Not only that, you break into the office of one of the most powerful women in Magical Britain."

" You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Selina asked quietly, but dangerously. Bella reined in her temper, she knew that if it came to blows and spells then Selina would win. There was also a hurt tone in that voice; nearly everyone who was supposed to look out for Selina had let her down one way or another. Bella had sworn she wouldn't do the same to her. Bella was hurt that Sel would even think that of her.

" No, of course not. But you shouldn't break into the Ministry. They're probably discovering your break ins now." Bella said carefully so as not to anger her goddaughter.

" If they find the files are missing, they'll blame it on the death eaters. Some of the smarter ones in the Ministry will probably think the Death eaters have spent months looking for my file for their master or even years, and they've only just realised where the fucking thing is. That's why I'm indifferent." Selina explained.

Bella thought out the scheme in her head and saw that Selina had thought it out well. " What do you plan to do?" She asked after a minute.

Selina's answer was immediate," Nothing for the time being. Catwoman'll still go out and deal with the death eaters, but that's small fry. That's another reason I stole the files."

" You've got something else in mind?" Bella said in realisation.

" Not yet, I wanted to study the files and refine my strategies. I couldn't do that via truth potion. I wanted the superior knowledge of the Ministry to help. No matter what people say about them, the Ministry is full of good information and insights. I need that knowledge. I stole quite a few files Aunt Bella, they'll come in handy." Selina said.

* * *

><p>Dolores Umbridge was an early morning person, it fit in with her ambitious nature. She liked getting in early for work and learning what was new in their world, and also to learn something new on a person she could use for her own ends. As she strode arrogantly through the Ministry, her head held high even though she was short and squat, making her body penguin like, Umbridge ignored the looks of hatred and disdain she knew were there. Dolores Umbridge wasn't the most popular person in the Ministry, and now Lord you know who had returned, that hatred had risen quite a few notches. Umbridge and Fudge were clearly under the influence of wealthy Death eaters, although that was all Fudge, but there was no real evidence. Amelia Bones would've dearly loved to see the back of the two of them, but her hands were tied.<p>

As for Umbridge, she didn't really care about what the fools in the Ministry thought. One day she thought that she would become the next Minister of Magic. Unlike Fudge, however, she wasn't complacent enough to put all her eggs in one basket. Fudge believed that if he found Selina Potter, the real girl who lived, then the public would adore him for ever, winning him landslide votes. Fudge had believed that the girl would be easy to find, that was five years ago and there was a lot of public pressure as well as private pressure on Fudge to find the girl and train her. Umbridge, on the other hand, didn't really care about the girl, she had her own plans. The time she'd spent in Hogwarts had been a major blow, lucky for her that the Dark Lord returning had shifted attention away from the Undersecretary onto Little Miss Potter and the Dark Lord himself. The toads already sagging features sagged even more when she frowned at the thought of the girl she'd only seen as a child. Umbridge hated children and Selina Potter was no exception, mostly because children were more beautiful. One of the many things that hurt Umbridge growing up was the fact all children ran away from her, screaming. She recalled how her own mother had spoken to a muggle born mother one day, " Yes, my Dolores is hideous. Not like your children. I congratulate you on them."

That started off her loathing for children because she envied them as a child, and her disgust for mudbloods.

When she'd first seen Selina Potter Umbridge had expected the girl to be like the other brats in the world, but she was wrong. Selina Potter was beautiful, even as a child. But there was something about the girl that made Umbridge think her own perverted desires would work. Dolores Umbridge and the Carrow twins had something in common; they had a sexual desire for young flesh, to hear them scream, to cry. She was even part of a group who did that to muggle children, and she used her contacts in the DMLE to know beforehand if there was going to be a raid on any of them. Umbridge was loyal to no one - she was simply doing it for herself. If anyone found out that she was a member of an organisation that routinely kidnapped, raped and killed muggle children in sexual perversion, she was finished, and not Fudge would be able to help her.

When she first laid eyes on Selina Potter, she'd wanted the girl. She'd looked sweet with her silky black hair in pigtails and that little dress, but her eyes held a sparkle that held an emotion that Umbridge didn't recognise, but it was alluring. Umbridge had gotten off on the numerous children in Hogwarts she'd tortured in her 'detentions,' using blackmail to ensure their so called ' Heads of Houses' wouldn't intervene. Heads of House? Hah! McGonagall was a complacent follower of Dumbledore's, she was the perfect drone who never followed her initiative. Flitwick was a half breed who ignored the bullying in his own house. Sprout was a plant lover. Of all the houses Umbridge had tortured, only the Slytherins had been left alone, and it was to do with Severus Snape. There was something about the man that Umbridge loathed and feared, he was also the most honest Head of House there was. He didn't let Dumbledore tell him how to treat his own Slytherins, he kept the other houses away from his snakes. He was also a terrifying presence, Umbridge was many things, but she wasn't stupid. She knew Snape would kill her if she touched one of his snakes.

Her only regret was that she didn't have a pensieve memory of torturing Selina Potter. The looks on the girls' face would've been worth it, more so that Daniel Potter's so called Mudblood friend.

As she walked into her office and sat down, she realised something was wrong. Putting her handbag and sheaf of files she held in her arms on her desk, she walked around the office. What in Merlin's name was wrong? Umbridge looked around the walls where her kitten plates hung on the walls and on the dresser with her vases of dried flowers. Nothing. There was nothing wrong and nothing missing from her family momento's collection. So what was wrong? The puzzled Undersecretary waddled back to her desk and opened her drawers and on the desktop. There! The file on Selina Potter was missing. Narrowing her beady little eyes, the toad angrily searched the rest of her desk, discovering more evidence that her possessions had been moved, her collection of Blood quills had certainly been touched.

When the door knocked, Umbridge was in an evil mood. Turning her wobbly body towards the door, she spat, " Enter."

The door opened admitting Percy Weasley. " I am sorry to disturb you, Madam Umbridge, but - "

Not in the mood for procrastinating, especially after such a promising morning, Umbridge snapped at Percy, " Then why are you disturbing me, Weasley? My office has been broken into - "

Weasley got to the point, interrupting her. " So has the department of magical records. Someone broke in there during the night. The room's a mess."

Umbridge felt her anger deflate slightly. She nodded, " Very well. Has the Minister been informed?"

" He should be, he's down there now." Weasley left in a hurry.

* * *

><p>Dolores Umbridge very rarely came into the department of magical records, but whenever she did she always found the place so organised and efficient, a true testament to the clockwork workings of the Ministry. When she walked through the doors, she stopped. When that pathetic little man, Weasley, had told her the room was in a mess, she'd thought he was exaggerating. After walking in she found that he hadn't been exaggerating. The shelves looked like a mighty wind had blown the records to the ground. Umbridge didn't need to guess why; with the room in this amount of disorder it would take days to organise the records still here properly to see what was here and what was missing.<p>

Umbridge spotted Fudge at once; the foolish Minister was in a shouting match with Amelia Bones, the pint sized clown didn't seem to realise the mess was part of the plan.

" I want to know what was taken, and soon. If the press find out there's been another break in then the Ministry will become a laughing stock." Fudge cried like a spoilt child. Umbridge almost shook her head at the illogical question.

Umbridge was glad that there weren't any Prophet reporters here, if she'd been Minister it would look bad for her as well. Umbridge moved closer to listen to the argument, and only observe.

Amelia Bones had never held back her disdain for Fudge in all the years she'd worked for him. The pompous little man was so far out of reality, caring only for himself and his position, that whenever the aurors caught someone Fudge would interfere and make up some pathetic excuse why they couldn't be guilty. Because of that, the auror department was considered a joke. In fact, many of her aurors had left after having the Minister interfere with their hard won arrests. Fudge had even gone so far as to have rejects put into the department, wizards and witches who hadn't made it through the academy on their own merit. With the war against Lord Voldemort, the competent aurors had no choice but to try and work with the incompetent ones.

" How exactly am I supposed to know what was taken with the library like this?" Bones gestured around the room, spitting the last word of the rhetorical question.

Fudge was beyond all reason, once more delving into the realms of his delusions, " Surely there must be some way -"

" Minister," Amelia interrupted in a hard voice, " look around you. The library has been turned into bedlam. The workers in this department need time to organise it."

Fudge seemed to think the solution was obvious. " Their wizards, aren't they? Surely there's a spell they can use to summon the files to them?"

It was a pity that the Head of the Department of Magical records had to hear that. " There is, Minister. Unfortunately that spell can't organise them properly."

" One file I do know is missing Minister, the file on Selina Potter." Umbridge confessed. The record keepers in the Ministry were aware the file was in the hands of the Minister and his staff. Umbridge added," That could be what the thieves were after."

" That is also why the file should've been in my possession."

Albus Dumbledore walked into the room, seemingly unfazed by the mess in the record library. " Didn't I warn you, Cornelius that the file on Selina Potter was too important to be held in a location where the death eaters have contacts?"

Dumbledore didn't really care about Fudge's reaction to this latest fiasco. It was a pity that Fudge hadn't been ousted from office, but maybe he could use this to his advantage. The magical world had been promised by Fudge that Selina would be easy to find and persuade, but nothing had come from those empty promises. Dumbledore knew his original plan for Daniel wouldn't work with Selina; the girl wasn't like her brother, she wasn't the sort of girl to sit back and let Voldemort come to her. Dumbledore had a nagging suspicion that there was a connection with this break in and the failed Death eater raid on MacMillan manor, followed by a hope the dratted girl was back in Britain.

Fudge turned to face Dumbledore, wondering why his job was far from easy. " Listen, Dumbledore, I've got a lot on my mind..."

" Indeed, Cornelius." Dumbledore's tone of voice was like a parent or teacher speaking to a parent they knew a child was lying. " You've had another break in, right after you've repeatedly told the masses that the Ministry is secure. How is this secure? The magical people won't tolerate this much longer Cornelius, just like you can't keep promising that a girl whom you don't even know will get them out of a mess you helped create."

Fudge was now blustering," I helped create? I think you've got it all wrong, Dumbledore."

" No? Then why did you have the Daily Prophet call me and Daniel Potter liars for 12 months? Why do you, even after seeing Voldemort, continuously refuse to have more aurors trained? Why do you slow down the war effort, bringing in stupid, worthless galas when the money could be used to fight Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked the three big questions, ignoring with irritation the annoying flinches that came with hearing Voldemort's name.

Fudge did have a comeback, " I don't want to alarm the public. I must keep up public morale and confidence."

Dumbledore couldn't believe that it was so simple to trap the fool into a corner, " Then why don't you bring in volunteers for the aurors? Stop listening to death eaters like Nott and Malfoy, start listening instead to either myself or Amelia for a change. Stop diverting funds for your private functions, they only waste money. Instead give it to Amelia, Merlin knows she needs it."

" You only want the ministry for yourself!" Fudge retorted, making Amelia and Umbridge roll their eyes. Anyone with half a brain could see that Dumbledore didn't want the stupid job, he'd turned it down a dozen times already. Why would he want it now?

Dumbledore's eyes glowed with rage, his posture tensed. Fudge lost what little of his bravado there was, and gulped.

In a voice that made even Amelia shake slightly to say nothing about its effect on the cowardly Minister, " Cornelius, you are a fool. Is it or is it not known on public record that I have refused, on 9 separate occasions, that I have continually turned down the role of Minister? If I've done that 9 times already, why would I suddenly turn around and want it now?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath, wondering if he should give the little bastard something more worrisome to think about. He decided to go ahead and see it. On one hand it might make Fudge grow up and realise the world was more than his philosophy dictated, it might even help him realise the war was all around him.

On the other hand, it might have the opposite effect, making the cowardly little fool even more determined to be a nuisance.

" Do you know how the old families see you?"

" I know the Malfoys have - " Cornelius started to say, ignoring his own undersecretary put her head in her hands, shaking it from side to side in exasperation.

" I am not talking about the Malfoys." Dumbledore said patiently," I am talking about the Old families, families whose power dwarfs the Malfoys and the other charlatans who believe that just because their families are wealthy that makes them the cream of Magical Britain. The Potters, the Bones, the Longbottoms. Those are whom I am referring too, Cornelius. Your own Undersecretary has already admitted that she was in possession of the file on Selina Potter. The Potters wont forgive you for that. James Potter may be a loyal auror, but his Head of House responsibilities come first. James has been trying to find his daughter since she left 5 years ago. When he finds out your stupid agenda has endangered his daughter's safety then he'll use all the Potter family's influence to make sure you're ousted as Minister."

Seeing that Dumbledore had stirred the pot, Umbridge stepped forward. When everyone noticed she asked the question on her mind, but it wasn't the question Fudge thought it would be.

" Didn't Selina Potter say she hated her family?" Umbridge asked almost respectfully.

Seeing Fudge's face turn red, Dumbledore admitted to it, " Yes, she did. It's clear a lot of work will be needed, but rest assured that when James Potter learns of this, he'll want your head on the block Cornelius."

* * *

><p>Dumbledore was right when he told Fudge that James was furious. The Head of the Potter family was beyond enraged. It was bad enough Daniel had left saying that the family and his own headmaster had ruined his life, but for the Ministry to have left his daughter's file to be left in the open so then it could be stolen, it fanned the flames of James' temper.<p>

The Order meeting started off with Dumbledore looking around the table at the faces. " As I am sure some of you are aware, the Ministry was broken into again last night."

Tonks piped up, her face grey and grim with none of it's usual cheer, " Yeah, Amelia's furious. Someone even broke into her office. I managed to take this."

Tonks took a white sheet from the inside pocket of her cloak and handed it over to Dumbledore. It showed a grainy image of a black clad woman, with a face mask and some strange pointed things on her head, resembling the ears of a cat or a bat.

" How did she get this?" Dumbledore asked, studying the image. This woman, yes it was clear she was a woman, must've been the mysterious fighter who'd dealt with the Death eaters led by Dolohov a few nights ago.

" Amelia has a magical camera powered by ambient magic. It was almost shut off last night when this woman broke into her office. That shot is one of many. She searched the office quickly, then left." Tonks replied.

Dumbledore was lost in thought. Then Ron Weasley asked in his annoying voice, " How comes the picture isn't moving?"

Shacklebolt held in his sigh, " Ambient magical cameras stop the photographic potion from making the picture move, if we tried to use it then the picture would be lost."

Dumbledore asked in a whisper as a thought occurred to him, " Is it possible...?"

McGonagall heard him, " Is what possible Albus?"

Typically, Dumbledore didn't elaborate. Instead he sat up, " I want the property of Bellatrix Black watched, I want to know if she's living alone. By the way, where is she?" he added looking around.

Vance sighed, " I'm sorry, Albus, I forgot. She's resigned from the Order. She believes that we're not doing enough to stop the death eaters, so she's left. "

Snape snorted, " You mean it's because she's moping for her goddaughter?"

" Severus, please." Dumbledore admonished. " I still want her home watched. I doubt she's alone now."

James's head shot up, catching on. " You think Selina might be living with her now?"

Wincing at James's premature excitement, Dumbledore elaborated at last. " Bellatrix stated five years ago that Selina was capable of many feats of magic that didn't require the use of a wand. Now, she's left the Order. I want to know why."

Cutting off any further questions, Dumbledore turned to Snape, " Now Severus, what is happening with Voldemort?"

Snape's mouth twitched in synch with the flinches and gasps at the mention of Voldemort's name, but he gave his report with the same sneer.

" The Dark Lord has been quiet lately. His orders are now been given by proxies. The only people allowed into his chambers are Lucius Malfoy, and a mysterious man. I've never seen him before."

" What does this man look like?"

" He's tall, muscular. I caught a glimpse of his face once, he looks like he's slightly Japanese, but he's got an almost American accent. I've seen him wear a red jerkin with what looks like throwing knives and a Japanese sword. The right side of his face looks like an animal has scratched it."

Dumbledore was puzzled, " One of Voldemort's assassins? When did he arrive Severus?"

Snape paused, " I saw him when I went to speak with Lucius, I bumped into him. He wasn't happy, he threatened to kill me. He held a knife to my throat."

Ignoring James whisper to Sirius, " Pity he didn't slit it," and Sirius's childish cough, Dumbledore whispered, " It seems we have two new players."


	9. Chapter 9

" _**Hear Me Roar!"**_

Times for fun were few and far between, but these students weren't going to let a war stop their romance, they were taking advantage of a night visit sanctioned by the Headmaster to Hogsmeade. Both Gryffindors, they expected that they'd be all right. The death eaters hadn't attacked Hogsmeade for a long time, but that didn't mean that there weren't death eaters who wouldn't take advantage of a few foolish hormonal teenagers.

The slightly drunk teenagers were on their way back to the castle after a night spent in the Three Broomsticks. They'd just reached the path that would lead them back to the school when it happened.

" Petrificus Totalis." Both teenagers fell down with a cry onto the ground. The hoarse, raspy voice that shouted that spell stunned a few onlookers, but they didn't do anything. When the death eater stepped out of the shadows, clad in his gear, everyone screamed and the ran off, leaving the girl and the boy helpless. But they watched from afar. The death eater leered at the girl, and he started to hastily undress himself. Wide eyed, the girl watched as the death eater undressed himself.

A shadow fell over them both, stopping the death eater, who even in his preoccupied state, wasn't stupid enough to ignore something like this. The death eater twisted his head around to see a woman dressed in black with some sort of mask that covered her head. The most sinister thing about her were the green eyes which glowed eerily.

" I love a big, strong man who's not afraid to rape a girl half his size." She mocked in a coy voice. The death eater growled in anger, then he sized her up. She would be so easy for him to take. The death eater stopped undressing himself and took out his wand, and marched closer to her, thinking it would be easy.

" Careful, it's my first time," Catwoman said, then she launched herself at him with a flurry of kicks that knocked his wand out of his hand, followed by blows to his chest and face. The death eater grunted, then groaned as Catwoman's legs and claws flashed across his face and chest. Finally Catwoman kicked him hard in the chest, knocking the breath out of him, knocking him against the wall of a house. The onlookers were too stunned to do anything, the girl the death eater had been about to rape managed to break free of the petrification and shakily got up into the arms of her boyfriend who'd also broken the petrification on himself.

Catwoman's hand ripped the mask off the death eater before he could do anything about it. Catwoman truly didn't care if this piece of filth was a death eater or not, but it was highly unusual for death eaters to wander about solo, making Catwoman think this scum was simply using the guise of the death eaters to rape who he wanted. Catwoman showed the terrified man her claws, and slashed them across his face making him howl with pain before she stunned him with his own magic.

Catwoman breathed hard, then turned to face the girl and the boy who'd been caught unawares by the man. The girl was gushing gratefully,

" Thanks, I..urk!" She gasped when Catwoman's still clawed hand closed over her mouth. The points of her claws gently touched the delicate skin, warning her clearly not to resist.

" You think it's so easy, don't you? Waiting for someone to save you." Catwoman leant forward, her breath warm on the faces of both teenagers. She hissed in a sultry voice, " I am Catwoman. Hear me roar!" With that, Catwoman cartwheeled away into the darkness.

* * *

><p>" Catwoman?" Dumbledore asked as he and a few teachers and aurors came down to the village to investigate the latest incident. Dumbledore was disappointed the aurors hadn't been as diligent about the protection of the Hogwarts students as he'd hoped, there were supposed to be patrols throughout the village. But Dumbledore had more important things to concern himself with.<p>

Minerva McGonagall's face was like stone, " That's what they said, they described her. The description was just like that of the surveillance photograph taken from Amelia Bones's office." The transfiguration teacher was careful to lower her voice when she said that. She didn't know if any of Amelia's loyal aurors were here, if they were and they heard what she'd just said then the Order would be in real trouble. Amelia Bones was their ally, the last thing they needed was to lose her. The Order was short of allies as it was. Was it possible though that this ' Catwoman ' was an ally?

Dumbledore frowned, " Hmm, that explains the way the death eaters that attacked McMillan manor were left. Some of them had what looked like claw marks. Who was this faker?" The old headmaster added when he looked with disgust at the man. Some wizards had taken the death eater disguise, and used them to spread their own terror, rape, murder sprees. Voldemort wasn't happy about it, and spent a lot of time making sure his own followers didn't did any of that. He also had his death eaters find the fakers and torture and kill them as examples. He hadn't been successful, but Dumbledore was glad this one had been caught before he'd raped Miss Mandrake.

McGonagall's lips pursed in greater disgust, " Mervin Carrow, related to the Carrow twins. But according to Severus he's not a real death eater, his parents felt the family had quite a few already."

Dumbledore knew she was speaking about the repugnant twins, and his disdain for this...creature boiled his stomach with rage. " Seems his taste is similar to those two. Get this thing out of my sight," he added to a pair of aurors to get them to do something constructive. He'd be speaking to Amelia about the lack of aurors in the village.

The deputy headmistress and the headmaster of Hogwarts walked away, speaking to themselves.

" What does this mean Albus?"

Dumbledore took out his wand, casting a non verbal silencing ward around himself and McGonagall. " I've had suspicions since we heard the department of magical records was broken into. The thief was somehow able to stop the defences in the Ministry without the use of a wand, leaving no signature. Now, only wandless magic users, to my knowledge, can do things like that. That's when I remembered something Bellatrix said, about Selina Potter's ability to manipulate magic by her mind alone. Added to that the girl's been missing for 5 years. There's no telling what the girl's capable of now, especially with the prophecy over her head."

McGonagall hadn't expected this. The subject of Selina Potter was taboo in the Order, there were quite a few members who believed that the girl should've been restrained, but those same members had been in Dumbledore's office the day the girl had left. Minerva was sure she hadn't seen them cast a spell on her. Bellatrix, being the only person Selina trusted, had been shunned unfairly, then she'd left without any warning.

" That's why you wanted Bellatrix's home watched, you think Selina's with her?" McGonagall asked in realisation. It made sense, Bella had always had faith in her goddaughter. Bella was the first person Selina would go to.

Dumbledore nodded, pleased that Minerva had made the deduction without just following him blindly like she normally did. Sometimes even Dumbledore, accustomed to being blindly obeyed and followed, grew aggravated from the lack of initiative shown by the people he worked with.

" Yes," he replied, " I'm hoping that Selina wont suspect anything wrong. Tonight when we have the next meeting, I intend to make sure the people watching are aurors, the last person I want watching over Bellatrix's property is someone like Mundungus."

McGonagall, of course, had her own thoughts and feelings about the little thief. He wasn't even a proper criminal in her eyes, but she knew better than to voice these thoughts to Dumbledore. He wouldn't listen anyway.

* * *

><p>Lord Voldemort held the newspaper in his hands, he felt that he'd read the strange story so many times that he felt he'd committed it to memory by now. The story of the faker trying to rape that girl whilst under the guise of a death eater infuriated the dark lord. Here they were, trying to restore the Magical world to it's rightful place and integrity, and scum thought they could steal the death eater guise and use it for themselves. He'd wanted to torture the Carrow twins, but he knew it would do no good in the long run. It was this...Catwoman that had Voldemort baffled, and yet hadn't his newest ally told him about her, and more importantly, who she was?<p>

He walked to the room where his new...associate was using to train himself. The man was moving his muscular bulk gracefully, practicing kicks and punches. Voldemort cleared his throat. The man stopped training, the dim light casting a shadow on the left side of his face.

" You might want to read this." Voldemort said handing the paper over to him, the dark lord moving back so then he could properly see the man's reaction.

The man read the paper, his eyes curious. Then his mouth contorted, rage started to burn in his eyes. With a roar, he threw the paper in the air, whipped out a knife and hurled it towards the paper. The paper was caught by the knife, pinning it to the wall.

" Catwoman...she's here. Selina Potter is here," the man spat.

" Why would she use this guise?" Voldemort asked patiently. He'd known the story of how this man had encountered this ' Catwoman' but it was a good thing he knew who she was. The dark lord was surprised by the disguise she used to fight then in though. Voldemort thought it was quite childish of her after hearing so much about her.

The man waved an impatient hand, " Does it really matter? We can work together, I know how this bitch thinks. We can kill her together, you and I, Lord Voldemort."

Voldemort wasn't happy about this, he'd hoped to capture the girl before torturing her and having his way with her before he passed her around his followers. Then and only infront of the Light side community, with their lies, their half truths, their arrogance, would he finally kill her. Besides it offended the dark lord's pride that this filthy muggle was here, but he needed an ally. This arrogant fool hated Selina Potter just as much as he did, but to co-operate with a muggle, someone Voldemort believed unworthy to even exist, infuriated the dark lord. When he'd outlived his usefulness, maybe then he would kill him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Merry Christmas, and a happy new year. Please review my story. **

**Malfoy Manor is burning down, burning down. **

Albus Dumbledore was watching the sun sink below the lake 2 days after the incident in Hogsmeade. Dumbledore enjoyed this view, with classical music of the muggle composer Beethoven playing in the background, the headmaster felt he could relax. Besides the music and the view helped by the music helped him to think about the latest events.

Dumbledore was by now absolutely certain that Selina Potter had returned to Britain by now, completing whatever it was that she'd finished. Albus had realised that he couldn't use the old ' wait until your ready ' excuse like he had with Daniel, who'd swallowed the excuse without question. Selina was nothing like her brother, but the sisters example made Daniel drop out of Hogwarts and leave the country himself, probably never to return.

Dumbledore sighed as he realised the scale of the mistakes he'd made; in casting aside one child and fixating on the other, he'd ignored the possibility that the girl was the one. He had never bothered to train the pair of them, seeing which one of the twins learnt magic the fastest and which one didn't, which he should've done from the if not all his plans had failed. Daniel wasn't the one to defeat Voldemort, and the girl that did defeat Voldemort was stubborn, and now it looked like she had vigilante tendencies. Dumbledore noted the hypocritical way he'd just summarised Selina's method of attacking the death eaters. His own Order weren't perfect, Dumbledore knew that. He knew it well. Look what happened in '81 when Pettigrew sold the Potters out. Granted it was all part of his plan, the climax of all his manipulations and scheming, but after all that he hadn't bothered keeping the Order activated. Instead he'd shut it down rather than simply recover the Order's wounds, recruit new members and indoctrinate them with the knowledge he had, the knowledge that pointed out clearly that Lord Voldemort was still alive. It had been a foolish mistake, one which was now costing Dumbledore dearly. The Order was a mess. Recruitment was down, thanks to two major factors; first, Voldemort now had a stranglehold on the wizarding world, and the public were scared. Second, the fact that Daniel Potter wasn't the chosen one was why recruitment was down. The magical world, Dumbledore was ashamed to admit it, even to himself, enjoyed elevating heroes into their line of sight. When it was discovered that Daniel wasn't the hero, the one to defeat Voldemort and rid the world of the blight he represented. The real hero was a girl that magical world had pushed aside and neglected with only one person having the courage to actually care about her. Dumbledore frowned. Selina Potter was a wildcard, her abilities frightened many of the Order because they didn't understand their full power. Who knew what the girl had learnt after vanishing from his office like that? Worse, Dumbledore had no knowledge of what the girl had learnt abroad, yes Dumbledore was sure that Selina had studied abroad. The question was what had she learnt? That was the important thing. It had been the issue of learning that Dumbledore had originally kept Daniel Potter away from the harder parts of magical training. Fighting Voldemort wasn't like fighting off a school bully, the dark lord had half a century of knowledge on nearly everyone. There were of course witches and wizards that could probably fight Voldemort, not to a standstill, but they would give him a good fight. Dumbledore remembered that part of the prophecy that said Selina would have a power the dark lord didn't know. That part had always stymied the old headmaster, he had no idea what it was. Daniel hadn't shown much proficiency in magic, and Selina's knowledge was unpredictable. Her break in at the department of records had been a surprise, but as Dumbledore thought about it he could see the plan. Clearly Selina had wanted information, and a few barriers weren't enough to stop her. The Ministry had managed, somehow, to keep most of the break in hushed up. Fudge was in a lot of trouble, and he looked set to lose his job, not that many save the death eaters would miss him. The Ministry was a joke because of Fudge taking bribes. James and Sirius, banding together as Heads of their houses, were destroying all of Fudge's credibility, not that there was any left. The subject of their daughter was a sore point for the Potters, they knew what Bellatrix and Selina said to them was true; they had neglected their only daughter, forcing her out of the magical world and making her see the muggle world as a haven.

Catwoman...such an unusual name. Albus couldn't recall the girl ever liking cats, but just because he hadn't seen it didn't mean it hadn't happened. Already Catwoman had stopped a death eater raid on an old family, raided the Ministry of magic of important files and finally foiled an attempted rape and showed the limitations of the aurors.

Albus knew that by now Voldemort was aware of Catwoman. It was the addition of this mysterious man Severus described in his report that concerned Dumbledore, clearly Voldemort had found a new ally. He'd ordered his potions master to get closer to the man, but so far Severus hadn't had much luck. Just like their luck with finding out if Selina was indeed living with her godmother. Selina wasn't stupid, she must know by now that she'd left so many clues that Dumbledore would know she was here. The theft of her own file was a dead giveaway, putting paid to the theory Fudge had had that death eaters had bided their time. Voldemort had never shown any interest in that wretched file, why would he wait for it now when he'd had many attempts to steal it thanks to his spies?

Dumbledore was disturbed by a knock on the door, " Come in."

An embarrassed Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in, " Bellatrix found out we were watching her. She got us to investigate the house to see for ourselves if there was anyone there. You were wrong, Albus. The girl wasn't there."

* * *

><p>Selina looked around her hotel suite, booked for an indefinite amount of time. She'd decided to move to London after she'd felt the presence of witches and wizards around Bella's property. Surprised the Order was catching on now, Selina had taken all her stuff and left, leaving the humiliated Order to search Bellatrix's house. Selina was ashamed that she'd even stayed with her godmother; she should've found a place like this before she met her godmother. It was in the past now, and no matter what Selina would want to do she couldn't change the past.<p>

Selina took the mound of files and carefully placed them on a table. She'd been going over these files for the last few days, and had already worked out what she intended to do.

Catwoman at the moment was an idea, but Selina intended to take her other self much further in the mess Voldemort and Dumbledore had created for themselves. Selina had turned to crime when she'd been a small girl, she'd stolen money from her parents and her brother. Daniel and her parents had so much money that stealing a few Galleons and sickles would make no difference, besides they never bothered to check their change. Selina left the table and walked to the window. From here she could see over most of the city, and Selina knew that not far away the Ministry of Magic was based underground like the goblin bank.

The five years spent abroad had done wonders for her, but that didn't mean she was left out of the loop. With access to the American magical media services Selina had learnt much about what was happening in her country, and what she saw and read made her grim. The ICW had pretty much quarantined the country from people going in and out right after that moron Fudge had those foreigners killed. Now she'd had time to think clearly she could see that Fudge was acting like a typical wizard of Great Britain.

That irritated her no end, just like the first hand knowledge that Fudge and his cohorts had held her file in a place where the death eaters could easily get at. Were Fudge and his ministry that incompetent? Selina realised the question was rhetorical, of course the British Ministry were incompetent; they closed their minds to anything new, and Catwoman was certainly new.

The thought of her alter ego brought a frown to Selina's face, by now the magical world must be aware of Catwoman's existence. She wondered briefly what their general reaction would be. Deciding to take a look for herself, she prepared to leave her suite...

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later, Selina found herself at the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron and pushed open the door to the pub. People in Britain said this place was famous, but truly...Selina couldn't see the attraction of a mid medieval pub that desperately needed decorating. Quick. Selina marched in, a hat covering her head as she passed inside. Fortunately the patrons were too busy drinking and laughing themselves stupid to notice this young lady move with the sleek agility of a panther. When she reached the bricks, Selina mentally tapped them in the same way that she'd seen her aunt and her..parents do it. The gateway opened, revealing the magical street in all it's splendor.<p>

There may've been a war on, but that didn't seem to worry or concern anyone, much to Selina's surprise. Sneering at the apathetic attitude she was getting, Selina carried on with the task in mind.

Spotting a vender selling newspapers, Selina grabbed one and started to read it. As she expected, the Ministry hadn't bothered to announce that one or more of the departments hadn't been broken into, but she'd expected the Minister and his fools had stopped, probably via magical coercion, anyone from telling the outside world about her presence that night.

The story on her...other self, however, was much more expanded on. There wasn't a picture on Catwoman, not yet anyway. But Selina knew it was only a matter of time before someone got lucky and snapped a picture at her.

Fudge was condemning her efforts, which pissed her off no end. In truth though, she had a good idea of why Fudge was saying she was ' hindering our aurors great efforts,' and Selina thought about the wording and found it containing too much propaganda for her tastes.

" Hey, girl," The vendor grunted irritably. Selina looked up curiously into his eyes, " What?" she asked, grateful for her disguise.

" You gonna pay for those papers?" He asked before carrying on in his obnoxious tone, " This ain't a library."

Selina smirked, " You ever been in a library?"

" Well, no..." The vendor grunted after a moments thought, making his already ghoulish face even more unattractive.

" Then how would you know what a library looks like?" Selina shot back before walking away. As she walked back out of the magical world and back into her real world, Selina listened to the wolf whistles that followed her. She sighed. Some things never changed.

* * *

><p>Lying on her bed, Selina went over the files she'd stolen from the Ministry, sifting through them, a notepad nearby with a pen in her mouth, jotting down notes. Selina had been doing this for hours, and she was making a list of plans and counter plans. It was clear from the newspapers that the magical world wasn't doing well from the war with Voldemort, but they had no ability to actually fight it. Holding off the death eaters was one thing, fighting them was a different matter, and Selina knew it wouldn't be long before the Order and the aurors lost the will to fight.<p>

If you could call what the Order did fighting, Selina had gathered from Aunt Bella that the Order didn't fight so much as run away. Shaking her head at the stupidity of the wizarding world, Selina focused on her planning, and saw ways of fighting the death eaters; Selina wasn't melodramatic enough to call it the darkness, not like Dumbledore.

Already Selina had made 7 plans, but she knew she would need to make more.

As time passed and days turned into weeks, Catwoman's name was being spoken more and more by everyone. Her name was bringing hope to those without it, but the Ministry wasn't happy that a vigilante was taking the hope that should be the Ministry's making. The death eaters were starting to fear leaving the confines of their bases and venturing out to attack, Catwoman's strikes were unpredictable, and the results of those foolish enough to meet her were becoming the stuff of legend. For the death eaters, that legend was deadly. Not even Dumbledore had an image like that, and it was becoming increasingly clear the polished sheen of Dumbledore's legend was tarnished.

Catwoman was enjoying all of it, laughing at the pathetic promises of the Ministry, especially Fudge's, which were just plain empty and stupid. The one thing she did love was that Lord Voldemort himself seemed to become more...cautious. Selina had installed sensors in and around Britain, warning her of a Death eater raid, focused on the dark mark magic imbued in every death eater. But there hadn't been any new attacks, making the wizards hopeful that the war was in someway over. It was laughable.

Selina wondered why Voldemort wasn't lashing out like he'd done in the past, but she shrugged. Selina wasn't going to waste time by thinking about what ifs. She had to finalise her plans for tonight.

* * *

><p>Later that day, Selina opened the trunk that held her Catwoman outfit. Carefully putting on the trousers, then the shirt, then the jacket, the transformation of Selina Potter to Catwoman came when Selina put on her clawed gloves, her boots and lastly her utility belt. The transformation ended when she put on her mask helmet and her goggles.

Malfoy Manor was a big estate. It consisted of thirty acres of gardens, orchards and an enchanted maze. There were stables with prize winning horses. The Malfoys had made a quarter of their fortune in breeding prize winning horses and other animals, but their primary sources of income came from prostitution, potion smuggling and so on. Selina had studied enough of the Malfoy family file to know that the House she was about to break into was the home of gangsters. Catwoman had decided to break in when the Ministry had a gala, which was stupid seeing how close Fudge was to being kicked out.

Mentally and magically calibrating her magical core to match the ward frequency, Catwoman slinked onto the Malfoy grounds. Since magical wards were similar to magnetic fields, it didn't take much to understand, from a muggle point of view, that magical wards and magical cores were like magnets of different poles. One pole met another pole of magnetic attraction, and repelled one another whilst being attracted to another. Selina had gone close to the ward perimeter and simply felt them before she teleported herself inside the wards. Now, with the grace of a panther, Catwoman slinked closer to the manor, keeping her eyes and ears peeled. She didn't know if there were any death eaters or housekeepers out this time of night, even though the latter was unlikely, but you never knew with people like this.

As she got closer, she noticed that the windows were dark, and there wasn't a sign of life. Creeping up to the walls took a long time, but she got there. Flexing her hands, Catwoman's claws extended, and she started to climb up the walls, listening for any sound other than the sound of the claws cutting their way into the stone of the bricks. She arrived at a massive window, and saw that the curtains hadn't been drawn yet. With her goggles, Catwoman scanned what she could see of the room, and she saw nothing. Using the pitons on her boots to keep her steady, Catwoman cut a hole into the window. The job took her a while, and whilst she could've used magic to break in, she didn't know for sure if there weren't other nasty curses on the house to prevent such a thing from taking place. Besides, Selina preferred taking the more challenging option, it helped keep her reflexes alert and in check.

For 5 minutes Selina cut a way into the window, carefully climbing inside and holding onto the circular piece of glass she'd cut to stop it smashing on the floor.

Catwoman walked around the manor, searching one room after another before she finally came upon Lucius Malfoy's study. It was full of books, and taking one from the shelves Catwoman saw that the book was dedicated to vicious curses and spells. Carefully putting the book aside, she moved on, searching the room. She checked the drawers on the desk for spells, and to her surprise there weren't any. Clearly the Malfoy arrogance thought no one would dare go through the drawers. Catwoman found one disappointment after another, there was nothing incriminating in any of the drawers, but she should've expected it. Lucius Malfoy had been one of the most violent and dangerous death eaters; he was unlikely to leave anything lying around that might see him been snogged by dementors. It was just so discouraging.

Catwoman walked around the room before she came across a section with a massive ornate rug draped all over it. Glancing down at it, Catwoman paid it no mind until she noticed that the rest of the room had highly polished wooden floorboards. So why was the rug here, in this part of the room? Bending down, Catwoman rapped her knuckles on the ground nearest to the rug, a wooden clang echoed. If this rug was innocent, then the sound coming from it would be the same. Catwoman repeated the procedure on a part of the floor covered by the rug. It sounded hollow. Catwoman smirked, this was more like it. Whipping the heavy rug off the ground, Catwoman saw what she'd discovered.

It was a trapdoor, covered by the rug, it concealed the evidence. No one outside the family would even know of it's existence. But Selina had read that a couple of years ago there had been raids on various family properties, one of them was Malfoy Manor, looking for anything suspicious for the Ministry. It was clear that the searchers sent to Malfoy manor hadn't made the connection of what the rug was covering, as the saying went _the best place to hide something is in plain sight, _but the Malfoy's could've been a bit more imaginative than a trapdoor.

Catwoman found the catch, and opened the entrance, but not before she placed a little gadget to stop the door from falling on her and locking in here; the door had been quite heavy and Selina worried that if she was trapped then she'd be a ripe picking for the death eaters. She also placed an explosive near the steps that led downwards.

The underground room she was in was quite dusty, Catwoman felt the neglect. The Malfoys had obviously believed this room was best left untouched by anyone. Catwoman used her night vision lenses to see and saw without any disappointment the gold she'd found, this place was a treasure trove for some of the most vile and hated magical objects from around the world. Selina remembered how James Potter had taught Daniel that it was rumored that the Malfoy family had this rare and precious collection of dark arts artefacts, but the hard part was discovering it. No Malfoy would stupidly reveal the secret of this hideaway.

Removing a stubby grey cylinder from her utility belt, Catwoman carefully placed the bomb near the stairs before she removed two more and placed them at different points in the room. Getting out of the underground store, Catwoman went towards the Hallway where the main Floo connection was. Catwoman knew the gala would last for another hour, but when the Malfoy's got back then they'd be in for a warm reception.

Catwoman chanted in the Wiccan language under her breath, then she turned and left for the direction of the room where she'd broken inside.

* * *

><p><em>An hour later. <em>

At the Order of the Phoenix's HQ in Potter Manor, half a dozen brightly robed and dressed witches and wizards came out of the floo looking absolutely shattered. The gala had been a waste of time, but Fudge, being his usual self, ignored it. Fudge didn't seem to grasp that he was wasting money, but his fate was sealed. Fudge had hoped the gaudy gala would stop him from being kicked out of power. Unfortunately, it only hardened the resolve.

James and Sirius, fed up with the constant ceremony, were going to enjoy themselves tomorrow when the Wizengamot would be in session. Tomorrow would see the end of Fudge.

Lily Potter whipped off her headband, glaring at her husband, " Please save me the memory of the meeting tomorrow, James. I want to treasure it always, Cornelius Fudge being kicked out of power. I swear, I have had enough of these never ending galas and fundraisers. We know that Fudge's squandering the money for himself."

James felt the same as his wife, agreeing with the request she'd made, " No problem, darling. I intend to make a little ceremony tomorrow night when the meeting's over."

Lily nodded, " Good," Then her mind turned to more immediate matters, " Any sign of her James, is there any sign of Selina?"

James sighed, " No. There's also no sign of Bellatrix. That doesn't mean she's not around," he added.

Lily nodded again, Bella wasn't the sort to run away.

Albus looked around the Order members with an aged look on his face, " Tonight we saw just how wasteful and extravagant Cornelius Fudge was, tomorrow hopefully we'll never have to deal with him again."

" Or his foul wife," Lily spat angrily, remembering the snobbish way Beatrice Fudge had spoken to her, " I wont be sorry to see the back of him or her."

Albus's eyes twinkled, " Yes, your right Lily."

As they laughed, a younger Order member rushed in from the Ministry, " Albus, Malfoy manor," the young man gasped and panted from the unexpected exercise as the Order waited patiently, " Malfoy manor is ablaze!" he gasped out.

Dumbledore's eyes widened, " What?" he hissed, " What's happened?"

The young man shook his head, " The family wards sent out an alarm 6 minutes ago, and a team was sent. They found the manor on fire. The fire was started a minute after the Malfoy family was seen leaving for their manor."

" Then...their dead?" One of the Order said in a horrified voice. For the life of him, James didn't know why they were horrified, the Malfoy family had caused a lot of pain to many people.

The young man had regained some of his breath," Yes, all three of them. Dead. We can't get near the blaze."

" Why not?" Dumbledore demanded; surely as wizards they should be able to put out one fire?

" You don't understand, the house isn't just ablaze, all of the estate's on fire, the gardens. Everything. All of it. We can't put it out. We've tried blanketing the area with a fire field to remove the air, but the fire's too big. We need help." The young wizard said earnestly.

Dumbledore sighed, wishing for once these people would be able to do their work without relying on him to get them out of their problems. " Very well. All of you, please come with me. We need all the help we can get."

Reluctantly the Order members left.

Twenty minutes later, James sighed in exhaustion as he held the field, channeling all his magic into the field. It had taken them 10 minutes to reduce the fire away from the Malfoy grounds, but the flames were still there, burning the house. James tried looking into the blaze, and he just caught what he thought was the front of the manor, but he couldn't focus on it due to the heat and smoke.

" Once again, everyone." Dumbledore ordered via a sonorous charm. James panted in exertion. This wasn't difficult magic, but whoever had set this up had been good when they created it. The fire had torched the manor and destroyed it already, James could see that from the view he had. Bracing himself from magical exhaustion, James was able to recast the field charm. It took them another 10 minutes before the fire dissipated, but Dumbledore was driving them on. The old wizard didn't know for sure if the fire wouldn't start again once they removed the field, and even when the last of the flames died down, Dumbledore ordered his people to keep up their parts of the field for another two minutes.

When they lifted the field, Dumbledore pointed his wand into the sky, and a bright blue spell was spat out of his wand. Rain fell on everyone until it was a cooling wetness on their faces. James sighed in relief, looking up into the sky with his mouth open. He closed his eyes, enjoying the wetness.

Dumbledore shouted, " Look!"

James opened his eyes and followed his mentor's outstretched arm as it pointed into the sky. There in the sky was a cat with it's claws stretched. It was followed by the message, _" Hear Me Roar!"_

Dumbledore looked at his Order, " It seems Catwoman has made her move."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I've been getting questions about Batman, and I'm going to say this. Batman doesn't exist in this story, Catwoman's the chief player in this story. But please don't stop reading because of that. Catwoman had her own comic series and Batman rarely played a part in any of it. **

The Twins Reunited.

The destruction of the Malfoy family created a hornet's nest in the magical world, sending shockwaves throughout the community, and it showed that the Catwoman wasn't the vigilante they thought she was. People like Fudge condemned her actions, calling for her arrest. Unfortunately, the wizarding world was full of people that had suffered at the hands of the Malfoy family, and they didn't show the Minister's opinion of the Malfoys.

Lord Voldemort glared at the paper that showed the picture of Malfoy manor in flames. His associate was looking at the dark lord with an amused expression.

" I told you not to underestimate her," he said. His goading tone infuriated Voldemort, and making the Dark wizard more angrier than he'd been before. It was a mistake in the making.

Voldemort whipped out his wand, but before he could cast a spell, his mysterious ally flicked his wrist. " Arrgh!" Voldemort shouted, clutching his hand as his wand fell to the ground. A small knife had embedded itself in his hand.

" I've made the mistake of underestimating Selina Potter," the man said, his face stony at Voldemort's hostile gesture but saying nothing about it for now, not for the moment. " She did this to me," he showed the dark lord the scarring on his face. " Besides, Lucius Malfoy needed to be taken down a peg. He was arrogant, he believed that money was the answer. He had no common sense, something you pathetic people lack. Now, get out of my sight. If you raise that wand in my face again, I'll slit your throat. Remember, I'm not your follower. I'm your ally, and you'll treat me with respect. Get out."

Voldemort picked up his wand and, under the careful gaze of his ally, healed his hand calmly. Voldemort found himself with a knife pinned between his eyes, " Don't ever do that again. I might not have magic, but don't underestimate me."

* * *

><p>Originally Catwoman had wanted to scare the death eaters, making up her war as she went along, but as she carried on she found herself drawing up plans and counter plans. Ideally, Selina would want to seal the death eater vaults, but she knew it would never happen. The Goblins would never listen to her, so she decided to terrify them and go a different direction. It wasn't long before Nott, Goyle, Crabbe, Zabini and Parkinson manor were broken into before they were robbed and then they were set alight. Above each and every one of their homes, the death eaters found a message. It read <em>Allies of Lord Voldemort end up with everything destroyed,<em> a very powerful message. It was also the truth, and many people who were death eaters, and those who were thinking of joining saw the results of what would happen if they did join. Selina didn't know for sure if the families she'd raided were death eaters or not, but she wanted to terrify the population in such a way they would never think of joining him.

* * *

><p>Knockturn alley was one if not the most notorious places in Magical Britain; it had the worst of magical society in artefacts, potions, slavery of various kinds, including muggle children who were kidnapped by all sorts of scum, and it was for that reason that Catwoman was going there tonight. As Selina Potter, she'd infiltrated a similar trafficking ring, and managed to free the children. There were differences; one, the magical version were capable of virtually anything with magic. Two, the magical slavers used potions to control the children. Wrapped in a cloak to disguise herself, Catwoman managed to sneak past the scum that dwelt within this part of the wizarding world. It was another reason why she was so contemptuous of the Wizarding government, and their apathy of the world outside their own.<p>

Keeping an eye on the people she passed in case some of them had any nasty ideas, Catwoman walked to a shop where the death eaters received their supplies. The shop was called _Proper Wizarding Clothes, _it was a dark version of Madame Malkins, the shop in Diagon Alley. Catwoman peered through the window, seeing the dragon hide boots, gloves, the long cloaks, some of them in different kinds of magical fabrics, and she nodded. She went inside, feeling the ambient magic. There were death eaters here; Lord Voldemort's essence was here, slight as it was. But it was there.

The doorbell had rung when she'd walked inside the shop, announcing her presence. Idly, Selina checked out some of the clothes, feeling them. She frowned when she saw the expensive and disconcerting Thestral leather cloaks, and the Acromatula dress robes.

" Can I help you?"

Grateful once again for the deep cowl she was wearing which covered her mask, but not her not vision lenses, and when Catwoman slowly turned to face the speaker, who was a young woman in her late teens - early twenties it was hard to say; that was the trouble with Magical people, Selina thought. A person could be over 70 and still look as young as 40. But Selina wasn't in the mood to make guesses of the ages of the people around her, she was here for business. Besides she could feel the dark mark on the woman's forearm. She was a death eater.

The young woman was both fascinated and wary at the same time. She was a loyal follower of the Dark Lord, and she helped their cause by supplying custom wands, robes and masks, illegal potions and storing dark arts artefacts for her fellows. She wasn't afraid of anyone, and yet this person made her nervous. Seeing someone wearing a long cloak concealing their body with a deep cowl, and seeing those eery green eyes was enough to make her delighted she had her wand.

The person smiled, from the little the sales woman could see, " Do you enjoy it?" The voice was gentle, almost seductive, but the salesgirl couldn't help but shiver slightly at the cold steel in the question.

Shaking slightly, the salesgirl asked in a shaky voice, " What? Listen, if we've given you something that doesn't fit-"What ever she was about to say was cut off coldly.

" Do you enjoy being a death eater?" The person's voice cracked like a whip, shutting the sales girl up at once. The salesgirl immediately went into denial mode, shaking her head and making denials, but Catwoman threw off her cloak and revealed herself in all her glory. The salesgirl gulped as she took in the woman who'd destroyed many of her fellows and their homes, forcing the dark lord to accelerate many of his plans. She took in the womans outfit. Catwoman was dressed in a leather jacket with black pants and boots. Some kind of belt circled the waist, including what looked like a whip. The death eater gulped when she caught the glint of metal on the tips of the gloves.

Catwoman smirked at the woman infront of her, enjoying her fear, making a grabbing gesture and tearing a sleeve on the salesgirl's arm. The fabric tore and revealed the black skull with a snake coming out of the mouth tattoo that looked like it hadn't been inked into the arm, rather it had been burnt.

What happened next was a matter of speed; the death eater salesgirl's wand was in her hand faster than light, but before she could get a spell off, Catwoman herself exploded into action. The death eater salesgirl found herself pinned to the wall from the explosive force of the catdisc that had impaled her and sent her into the wall. Catwoman stood there stoically, watching as the blood dripped from the wound in the woman's chest. Whilst she wasn't a born killer, she knew that this was for the best. No matter what Dumbledore said, if you wanted to stamp evil out then you needed to make sacrifices of many kinds.

Catwoman cast a spell on the door to stop anyone from breaking in and discovering the body of the death eater, and searched the premises, using her magical senses. Catwoman closed her eyes, using her magic to guide her way. It wasn't long before she found the rooms where the death eaters got their gear.

It was a basement. A long basement with cabinets of polished but rough wood. There were rows of death eater robes and cowls of various sizes, one wall had a selection of masks. Catwoman sauntered over, and gazed at the cold metal moulds. Catwoman had read of tribes around the world, who put war paint on to scare their foes and victims, and the death eaters had used the same principles. The masks were decorated with many kinds of patterns showing vivid dark art designs. Selina recognised some of them from seeing them as a small child in her family's library.

Catwoman smirked. _I've struck gold_, she thought.

* * *

><p>Albus Dumbledore sighed as he stood watching his Order and the aurors going over the shop <em>Proper Wizarding Clothes, <em>feeling safe in his reputation as a light wizard. Knockturn Alley was a shit hole, one Dumbledore and many of the light would love to see disappear off the face of the planet, but alas Dumbledore doubted it would happen. The place had too many patrons. Dumbledore had had suspicions about this shop supplying the death eaters, but now, thanks to Catwoman that was no longer an issue. Dumbledore watched quietly as the evidence was taken out of the shop by the searchers - robes, wands, potions and masks. Above the shop, glittering eerily, was a massive cat in the sky. Dumbledore hadn't been surprised when he found the place beneath was this obscure clothes shop. A body was taken out of the shop by the hover charm, and Dumbledore caught a glimpse of her face.

It was Marietta Edgecombe, a Ravenclaw witch, and Dumbledore shook his head in disappointment when he caught sight of the dark mark. It was a sad thing to see so many innocent minds tainted with the hate of Lord Voldemort. Then again the Edgecombe family were hardly in Dumbledore's good books; Dumbledore had had suspicions that the Edgecombes were Death eaters from what Severus had described but until now the old headmaster had hoped that the rumor wasn't true. It disappointed him that this promising young witch had joined the dark lord, but there was nothing he could do about it now. His eyes became even sadder when he noticed the silver weapon in his old student's chest.

" Oh, Selina..." he breathed quietly. Dumbledore also looked behind him where the slave market was. He shook his head when he noticed the slavers punned to the walls with the same kind of silver weapon that killed Marietta. Dumbledore's heart was torn when he saw the vacant eyed muggle children being led out.

Above Knockturn Alley, watching from the rooftops, Catwoman watched from the shadows as the Order streamed from the shop, taking the evidence with them and delivering another blow to Lord Voldemort, but the slave market had been her own personal project. Like Dumbledore, Selina watched the children being led away as the bottles of illegal potion were taken out, further cementing the guilt of the bastards who'd run it. She also felt a fury like she'd never known.

" You've been busy, little sister," A familiar voice said from behind her.

**A/N Don't mean to be evil, but I couldn't resist leaving a cliffhanger. Please love and review my story.**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer - I own neither Catwoman or Harry Potter.

Shocking revelations.

Selina jumped when she heard the voice, spinning round she saw the speaker. A man wearing a long cloak sat on the rooftop with her, a broomstick leaning against the brick chimney next to him. Catwoman took him in, knowing it was her brother. He'd changed greatly. His face was more leaner, showing a man who'd exercised greatly. Daniel was wearing a black cloak, as was already mentioned, and most of his gear was black. Catwoman couldn't see much of Dan's body; his outfit reminded the feline burglar of the dynamite version of Zorro, one of the many comic book characters who'd inspired her looks. That incarnation wore neither flashy cape or a cloak that made him look gaudy, but a cloak that made it harder for enemies to strike him.

Clearly her brother was using his brains when he designed his look. But what was he doing here? Then Selina noticed the katana strapped to his back.

Surprised her brother had deduced her identity so quickly, Catwoman tried to bluff, " I don't know who you are, personally, but I know you're Daniel Potter, the former boy who lived." Catwoman closely watched for Dan's reaction. She was expecting a puffed up and pompous reaction with her brother boasting about an accomplishment before he could even walk and speak. What she got wasn't what she'd expected, no matter the circumstances of how she'd left Dan. It wasn't everyday when you discover your friends are arrogant bastards in the pay of a senile old man, and your parents turn their attention away to someone else.

" Don't call me that!" Dan snarled, keeping his voice down, mindful of the Order on the ground. If they heard them then they'd be caught, and Catwoman and he would need to fight their way out. Catwoman was the better one at magic, not Dan.

" Why not?" Selina asked curiously; in all the years she'd known her brother, Daniel had never shied away from the attention. Catwoman had been surprised when Dan had emigrated for Japan and gotten a girlfriend. She hadn't expected to see him, and she was interested in what he'd been doing since then.

Dan's jaw clenched, " Take off your mask, Sel, I want to see your mask. Not your true face."

Catwoman's gasped at the implications of that request; when she put on her Catwoman outfit she felt complete, a real person. Was Dan right, was Catwoman Selina Potter's true face? She'd never have expected her twin brother to become so perceptive; clearly his time abroad had broadened his mind.

Hands shaking slightly inspite of her control, Catwoman slowly removed her mask, exposing her face. Dan nodded, his lack of surprise cementing Selina's growing fear that her masked identity wasn't as secure as she'd hoped, " Aunt Bella's kept in touch with me like she has with you, don't be angry with her." Dan looked his hands, " I think we need to talk somewhere else."

Selina nodded, she knew just the place.

* * *

><p>Bellatrix was as surprised to see Dan like Selina, but she was unrepentant about not telling her goddaughter about being in touch with him.<p>

" He came to me, Sel, I told you that. I thought it was obvious to you that I was in touch with him." Bellatrix said calmly. When she'd seen Dan after so long she'd been as surprised as her goddaughter, just like she was when she laid eyes on the sword the boy was carrying. In truth Selina wasn't angry, but she was still curious about what was going on. She turned to face her brother, who was sitting at the table in Bellatrix's home, a look of placid patience on his face, his cloak draped on the table in front of him, revealing what looked like body armour, but it was his face that was making Selina's surprise even more profound; she'd never seen the boy look so composed.

Daniel smiled, " I know you've been in training. I've been as well." Dan looked at his hands, " After the Order meeting in Dumbledore's office, after you exposed Ron and Hermione of spying on me, and that Dumbledore was planning your life like he'd done me, my parents changed. It grew so bad that they forgot I even existed.

" Welcome to the club," Selina said sarcastically.

Dan carried on as if his twin hadn't said a word, " I wanted to get away, especially from Dumbledore and the Weasleys. I saw them for what they were. The Order was no better. They were looking for you, Sel. I decided to take your advice, and get away whilst I still could. I went to Aunt Bella, and asked her for help."

" I was surprised at first," Bella remarked softly, speaking for the first time since Dan started his story. " I was least surprised when I heard how Lily and James were treating you. I couldn't resist helping you, and showing you that you and your sister had been born to two arrogant people who'd taken over from the good people they'd been before they were attacked."

Dan pointed at her, " Bellatrix got me out of the country, gave me a translation potion. I travelled to Japan, and whilst I was there I soaked up the culture, got a job selling potion ingredients in their version of Diagon Alley, for this kind family. The potion helped me learn the language. I met my girlfriend there. I can speak Japanese brilliantly now."

Selina couldn't resist, " Really?" She asked in Japanese.

" Really," Dan replied with a smile. He'd missed this; he'd undertaken occlumency training and he'd found that when he'd been a baby, he and Selina had had competitions. It was a pity people like Dumbledore and their parents had taken that away from them.

Selina nodded, satisfied. She could see that the potion was no longer working. That would only happen when the taker had learnt the language. " Carry on. What happened next?"

" I told the family about what happened, the attack on Halloween, Dumbledore and our parents treatment, Voldemort's return to power...I told them about how Voldemort was gunning for you." Dan closed his eyes as he revealed something his pride had had trouble revealing to that wonderful family, " I told them I knew you'd fight back against the bastard, and I told them I wanted to help you."

" So the family taught you about how to become a samurai?" Selina asked with her arms folded. She was aware that the samurai arts were passed down through the generations so they'd never die. Her beloved sensei had come from a long line of samurai trained warriors.

Dan shook his head, " No, but they knew someone who would. A sorcerer. Cutting a long story short, the magical training was pointless. He told me straight that my ability to wield magic had diminished."

" Diminished, how?" Bella asked.

Dan shrugged, it had been a big a mystery and surprise to him and the sorcerer as well. " The sorcerer found magical core blocks on my magic, and he suspects they, and the attack made by Voldemort, might have damaged my magic. He can't see how though, considering the wand wasn't directed at me."

" So, when he discovered your magical limitations, this sorcerer taught you hand to hand combat. Something that doesn't require a magical focus?" Selina asked.

Dan nodded, " The sorcerer and I trained. I can't tell you how hard it was."

" No, you do not," Selina replied softly, recalling her own training only too well. The only difference was Selina had been prepared for it, running, weight lifting, going on all sorts of activities to make her strong. The only heart pumping activities Dan had ever done was Quidditch and signing autographs.

" I thought he would teach me moves, but he had other ideas. He made me learn meditation, punching holes in wooden panels with my fist. Making me eat fish heads with my fingers when they were bloody, saying if I ate like an animal then I should eat off the floor. It took me three years before I was able to fight with him and hold my own." Dan added.

Selina wasn't surprised, " The master would always hold back some of the knowledge until the student was ready. It gives them an advantage, if the student pissed around then the teacher would surprise them."

Dan nodded, " I got cocky once or twice, but I managed to hold my own. I was best when it came to using the katana, and the master made me forge it."

Bellatrix asked, " When did you come back?"

" I got back here 3 days ago. I found out what Catwoman had done, and I knew it had to be Selina," Dan turned to his sister, a smirk on his face, " That's how I knew it was you. Only my sister could drive people that crazy,"

Bellatrix snorted when she saw the glare pointed at Dan from her goddaughter. She asked a question that had been bugging her for a long time since the news had come from Daniel.

" You's the girl, Dan?" She asked. Selina rolled her eyes at her aunts curiosity, but she too was curious about who the girl was. Dan's eyes gleamed proudly as he thought about the girl, " Hoshi. Hoshi Sato. Her family run a number of businesses, potion ingredients is one of them. It was thanks to their connections that I got trained in the first place."

Selina nodded, noting the meaning of the girls name at once, liking it's otherworldliness. Now she'd heard the story from her brother she was delighted to see he'd taken her advice, upto a point.

" I thought I told you to stay away from the fighting?" Selina asked.

Dan shook his head, " I know," he replied in a voice that said that he'd tried hard to do that, but he couldn't find it in his heart to do it. " But I couldn't. I owed you, Sel, for all those years of grief mother and father put you through. I know you see me as an arrogant jerk, and I was. But I've changed, I'm different now. You think your life's been ruined, guess again. Thanks to that fucking prophecy, and Dumbledore's obsession with our family, I haven't had a normal life. Leaving for and working in Japan was an eye opener; no one cared who I was, as long as I worked hard to earn something.

" The sensei that taught me ground my Potter arrogance to dust, Selina. If I'd learnt from him since childhood, then I would never be arrogant." Dan looked deep and hard into his sister's eyes. " Dumbledore's training was spoilt by mother going on about how rough it was, the sensei would never have tolerated that."

" I know. Sensei's love getting at the good things, and they don't let little things get in the way of their training obligations." Selina said, " What made you come back?" She asked again.

Dan ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes tiredly, " I wanted to get revenge, on Dumbledore, on Voldemort. I know you're the one that's supposed to kill him, but I want to make him pay for coming and destroying lives. I wanted to gain redemption, for the lies that I've told, and others."

Whilst Selina was sickened that some of Dan's motives weren't as unselfish as he'd led on from the start, she understood what he was getting at. She'd noticed, and from what she could see on the face of Aunt Bella as well, that Dan had said ' gain redemption,' not ' get ' as she'd have expected him to say.

Turning her attention to Dan's outfit, she remarked drily, " I see you've foregone the traditional Japanese samurai gear?"

A typical samurai wore ceremonial armour; padded for arms, chest, legs and thighs, topped by mask and helmet. In truth, Selina was delighted her brother had designed his own gear. Japanese armour had many issues, besides Selina didn't think it was practical. Body armour, no matter how light, could be restrictive in some areas, and for a thief that wasn't a good move.

Dan smirked, he could see what his sister was getting at, and he wasn't surprised, " Too bulky, especially on a broomstick,"

" So, what's your M.O?" Bella asked, " Fly over the death eaters on a broomstick, slice their heads off, fly away and laugh at them?"

Dan ignored the mocking way Bella had asked that. She was right, in some parts. " Aside from the laugh at them and fly away part, yeah. That's my plan. I haven't started yet. I was about to, then I heard about Catwoman. It didn't take long for me to figure out her identity, or the person who knew who it was, There were too many clues," Dan looked up at his sister.

" Oh, like what?" Selina asked, folding her arms, her expression challenging Dan to respond. Bella leant back, a small smirk on her face. She wondered how Dan was going to respond to this challenge.

Dan didn't disappoint, " My sister has never liked magic, despite her skills in using wandless magic. The few times I've followed Catwoman around, oh yes," Dan added when he caught his sister's look, " You were easy to follow over the rooftops, and when I saw you use magic, you didn't use a wand. I don't know anyone else who could do that."

Undaunted by his sister's narrowed gaze, Dan carried on, " You may hate magic, and everything the wizarding world stands for, but you would never walk away from a fight. Besides, Catwoman appeared in New York not so long ago, before she disappeared. Aunt Bella told me that you'd gone to America. It's far away from Magical Britain, just the way you like it.'

Dan smirked, " Need anymore proof?" he asked Selina with a smile, the challenging glint saying _beat that, sis. _

Selina glowered at Dan her eyes glowing with fury, dismayed that her disguise seemed to disappear like a breath of wind every single second.

After that, Dan and Selina agreed to stick together, and also help each other with what was to come. What they didn't know was that they'd need all the help they could get.


	13. Chapter 13

I don't own Harry Potter or Catwoman.

Face to Face.

" So," Catwoman asked as she ducked an incoming curse from a death eater, her question coming directed at her brother, who was slashing the death eaters with his sword. " What d'you call yourself?"

Dan gritted his teeth as the death eater he was fighting was proving to be more intelligent about dodging slashes from his katana, his sister's question startling him and a curse whizzed by, missed when Dan's reflexes honed by years of martial arts training and Quidditch saved his life by a mere few centimetres, and he cursed himself for letting his sister distract him like that. " What?"

Catwoman lined a perfect kick with the death eater she was dealing with. It had been 3 weeks since her brother had re-entered her life, and in that time both had reacquainted. Even after Dan had described in detail the changes he'd gone though, Selina had been skeptical, and with good reason. As they fought side by side, Selina was delighted to find her brother had become humble, and when he fought he fought with incredible care and concentration. By Selina's standards, and the standards of anyone who attended the Sensei's dojo, Dan's training was high quality, but it'd been rushed. So Bella had suggested something Selina would never have dreamt possible. Invite Dan to join in with her rigorous training schedule. It meant that she could see his technique, but it also meant her skills could meet those with another opponent, something which was rare nowadays since the only opponents Catwoman dealt with were always fighting with wands, and were far from interesting. Good. Selina was starting to get bored with just fighting Death eaters.

Smirking, but keeping her senses attuned with the scum she was fighting with, Catwoman asked, " I call myself Catwoman. So, what do you call yourself? The Lone Warrior?"

Dan's devastating punch to the death eaters rib cage forced one opponent out of the fight, but others kept coming, " I don't have one, unlike you. Why do you call yourself Catwoman?"

The response was simple and succinct. Typical of his sister.

" I like cats, and I am a sexy woman. What d'you expect, handsome?" Catwoman replied with a smirk.

For a scary moment, Dan was terrified Selina was into incest with that handsome jibe, but then he realised that if the death eaters cottoned on to who Catwoman was then they would fight that much harder.

" I won't reply to that," Dan replied back sharply. He was rewarded by a pout and Selina sticking her tongue out. Shaking his head at his sister's childishness, Dan carried on with the fight. It took them a while, but eventually they managed to deal with all the death eaters. Breathing hard, the siblings looked nervously over the bodies of their opponents. Neither Potter child was particularly comfortable with the idea of killing anyone, but they'd both come to terms with it for their own reasons.

For Dan it was because of the ripped life he'd suffered, well, enjoyed would be the better adjective. Since he was old enough to walk, everyone had fawned over him, telling him he was a great wizard, that he was meant to do great things, that he'd destroyed the most powerful Dark Lord in history, that he was a hero. As he grew older, Dan grew to love the attention everyone gave him, from politicians to Albus Dumbledore. His parents had spoilt him rotten whilst Dumbledore had praised him for tiny things whilst Selina, his own twin sister, had watched from the sidelines. Then three hideous truths came to light; first his life had been a lie. He'd spent his whole life being lied to, being put on the pedestal and didn't know how to live a proper life.

Second, his parents, Dumbledore and his so called best friends were either liars or complete narcissists. Mom and dad had always dressed and preened in front of the camera when ever they went out, and he'd heard that his mother had hated his father for his arrogance. It was quite ironic, really, that Lily Potter would become what she hated. When Selina had walked in with Aunt Bella, Lily hadn't looked at him once, and just rushed to Selina, and tried to engulf her in a hug his sister wouldn't have reciprocated.

Dumbledore had been prepared to dump him, after all that. The most bitter pill of all, number three, was learning about Granger and Weasley. He hadn't heard what'd happened to them, but the vindictive part of him wished that Hermione's parents had paid the price for their daughter's arrogance. As his training had progressed in Japan, Dan had wondered how Dumbledore had intended to allow the know it all bitch access to the Potter family library, and he realised rather quickly Dumbledore had duped Granger. There was no way the family library would open for an outsider, someone who wasn't even related to the Potters. Dan's time in Japan had allowed him to see things as they really were, not as the black and white people like the Weasleys did, and he realised that he'd never had anything in common with either of his two faced ex friends. Granger always preached about schoolwork and learning, but whenever someone did better than her, she always whined about it. Looking back on those memories, which was easier thanks to his being a wizard, recalling memories was easy, he couldn't help but think Granger hadn't grown out of infancy.

Neither had Weasley, the hot headed carrot head. Always talking shite about Quidditch and chess, never wanting him to buckle down to homework, then again Dan'd been more than willing to back out of doing homework, only doing it for Granger, because Dumbledore had taught him, and Dan had arrogantly thought since the Great Dumbledore had done the teaching, Dan wouldn't need to learn anything else. Dan was now convinced Dumbledore had done something to make Weasley make him lose interest in learning, but in truth Dan had never wanted to learn.

That changed when Dan lost direction in his life.

Daniel Potter had left Britain, sickened by the way the Light treated him after they discovered the truth about that night. He'd gone to Japan, and now he was a warrior. At least he did until Selina had invited him to her training sessions, and his sister had soundly beaten him. Dan had been beaten 6 times in a row, and then Selina had taken him under her wing - well, paw considering his sister's love of cats. Daniel wasn't sure if he was delighted his sister was helping him in his training or not, but he was sure it was helping. Selina had been studying martial arts long before Dan had even been taught the most basic samurai arts. Including how to kill someone. Dan had been hesitant about killing someone, his lessons with Dumbledore about the need to forgive and redeem the enemy drilled into his brain, but after all the lies and bullshit from the senile old bastard, Dan was more than prepared to sacrifice some of his morals. He'd gone out and killed a nasty Japanese murderer to prove himself capable, and he was. Now he was back, fighting alongside his sister.

For Selina, killing was far more easier for her to accept since hardly anyone had bothered to tell her that forgiveness was the universal ticket to feeling good about yourself, Aunt Bella didn't count since she'd been one of the Order's strongest proponents for allowing lethal spells to be used against the scum, Dumbledore's weakness and the Order's lack of brainpower or freewill, proving to her just how short sighted the others were, not to mention stupid. That didn't mean she liked it. Like her brother, Selina had come to accept killing death eaters as an act of kindness on the side of the unfortunate victims of the Death eaters that never stood a chance against their magical murderers.

Selina had learnt long ago how thoughtless the fools of the so called Light side really were, hence the reason why Selina and Bella had insisted on actually training properly. Selina had fought hard, sacrificed her whole childhood to learn how to shake off her parents hold, fought to escape the Magical world by killing Voldemort. The only person she cared about was Aunt Bella, and Selina would go into her chosen profession in the magical world, and then live happily ever after.

_**That**_ was the reason why Catwoman was alive, why she was determined to actually fight to the bitter end. Once Lord Voldemort was dead, Selina Potter would disappear and then Catwoman would become the world's greatest cat burglar. Selina was looking forward to it.

Dan breathed hard, " That - gasp - that was good,"

Nodding fast, Catwoman agreed, " Yeah, - gasp - that was good!" Catwoman cocked her head, her metawitch senses alerting her to bad news. " Uh, oh!" She muttered.

Dan, lacking his sisters senses, looked at her quizzically, " What?" The answer came at once when there was a number of pops in the air. It was too late for the pair to actually vanish, they were trapped. Dan repeated his sister's words, " Uh, oh!" he cursed under his breath when he saw his parents, Dumbledore and the Order turn up. As soon the Order laid their eyes on Catwoman, and Daniel, they had their wands out, but when they saw Dan's unmasked face they gasped.

" Dan, is that you?" James Potter asked. Dan didn't bother to reply; the Order could see his face, his identity was out in the open. He was surprised no-one had noticed it before. Meanwhile Dumbledore was pointing his wand at Catwoman, the masked woman hadn't moved one inch since the Order had arrived, and he was surprised considering what he knew, or rather the things he thought they knew about the woman. Catwoman's mask, with the eerie green eye lenses, watched them impassively.

Lily's eyes, teary when they laid sight on Dan, tried to rush forward to hug him. But he stepped aside, remembering the way his mother had done the same thing in Dumbledore's office a few years ago when she'd rushed Selina.

Lily looked at him with hurt on her face, " Dan?"

Anger laced Dan's voice, his face was now set like granite, " Don't touch me, stay away from me!"

Lily tears came down faster at this, holding her arms out, she begged her son, " Dan, please. I've missed you - "

" No, you haven't. I don't remember either of you," Dan's cold eyes were turned to James, who expression made him look like he wanted to be angry, but he also wanted to cry, " writing me a letter whilst I was away. No, I got letters that threatened to disown me 'cos I'd taken my twin sister's advice, and left this fucking country."

Molly Weasley opened her mouth, " Daniel Potter, you watch your mouth young man!"

" Oh, shut up you old harpy!"

Ron Weasley strode forward, sticking up for his mummy as always, " What's wrong, Potter? Not good enough for ya?"

Dan glared at his former friend, and trying not to smirk at the changes. Ron Weasley had always been tall, and surprisingly thin when they'd last seen each other. That was no longer the case; it seemed being in his early twenties was a bad time for the redheaded trash can. His formerly thin stomach was now bulging outwards, and Dan could see bits of food stuck to the repulsive mouth and crumbs on his robes. Dan ignored Ron, and looked at the faces of the Order. He could see Tonks and Sirius, but he couldn't see anyone else he knew, then again Dan's contact with the Order had always been limited.

Dumbledore looked at the bodies of the death eaters, and gazed sadly on his former pupil and the girl he was convinced was Selina Potter, his world's savior and martyr. Dumbledore had some hope that he could try and pull the same scheme for Dan with Selina, but as Catwoman that wasn't going to happen. He needed to come up with a plan to make the girl see the light.

Gazing sadly at the dead bodies of the Death eaters, Dumbledore asked, " Was it truly necessary to kill these people?"

For the first time since they'd arrived, Catwoman spoke, masking her voice carefully. She was sure Dumbledore knew exactly who she was, but she could always hope. " They were trying to kill us, Dumbledore. Unlike you, me and Dan here believe that the only good death eater is a dead death eater. You and your Order always use stunners, but that doesn't work. The stunning spell has a time limit before the stunned victim gets up again and starts killing. Result, your fighters waste time in duels when you should be killing the Death eaters, costing you lives. Is it any wonder your people are losing this fight? Time was, the Light side was able to put down dark wizards with a simple cutting curse. Not anymore, now you people have grown weak."

Hermione Granger appeared, barging forward, her hair flying, " If we kill then we'd be no better than they are," She said in her pompous and know it all voice. She didn't look once at Dan.

Catwoman didn't react to the posturing bitch, she kept her eyes firmly on Dumbledore, " How many people have you lost, and allowed Voldemort to kill?" She asked, ignoring the way everyone flinched when they heard the name. It seemed the magical world was still predictable in their fear.

Lily and James looked at her, and out of the corner of her eyes she could see that the last few years hadn't been very kind on her parents. Magical people aged less than normal people - Dumbledore was in his hundreds, and he looked like he was sixty or seventy years old or so, and her parents were still in their thirties, but they looked much older. Catwoman didn't know the reason and frankly didn't care.

Dumbledore waved his hand, lacing his words with magic, " You must lean to forgive and redeem the death eaters,"

Catwoman's occlumency barriers filtered the laced words, and said nothing except, " Forgiveness only takes you so far."

Alastor Moody pushed his way forward, his ire directed at Dumbledore, " Don't tell me you're still going on about forgiveness, Dumbledore. I've told you before that was what'd got us into this mess in the first place. Putting the death eaters in Azkaban hasn't worked, they only get out again. We stun 'em, sure, but they get up again and the kill the idiot who put 'em down anyway. Stunning's a waste of time. We should kill the bastards!" Moody finished passionately.

Catwoman smirked at Moody, " Looks like your people aren't in total agreement with your course of action, Dumbledore."

Catwoman decided they'd wasted enough time, and using a pair of fingers she fished out a black capsule...

Dumbledore wasn't going to let Catwoman go yet, " Your killing the Death Eaters proves that you're not on the light side, nor you Daniel," the old wizard added, looking disappointedly at Dan, who stared back coldly, " I taught you when you were younger that you had to be the bigger man, but now here you are, proving that even a Light wizard can fall too the dark."

" It wouldn't be the first time, would it?" Catwoman asked. " The Death eaters're on a recruitment drive, old man. Their numbers are coming from disillusioned people, people that the magical world's pushed into that position for years."

Dumbledore knew who she was talking about, and he tried to bluff her, " The Slytherins have had their chance, they -"

Catwoman's fingers were tightened on the capsule, " A chance? They had no chance. Hogwarts is a breeding ground for stereotypes, the school's lost its way. Your just too stupid to see that you've lost the magical world. Unless you people change your society then the magical world will tear itself apart, Dark lords like Voldemort spring up every few decades or so. But they're part of the problem, they rise when the magical world's at the worst. The Ministry's a joke, people like Fudge allow scum into places because their blood's pure and their family's are influential. Did you know, Granger, when you graduate from Hogwarts that you'll never be employed?" Catwoman asked Granger, who looked startled. The pathetic witch looked between Dumbledore and Catwoman before she narrowed her eyes angrily, "Your lying! Professor Dumbledore would never let that happen! Look at Lily Potter, she's - "

" A housewife," Dan finished. He'd only just see the point that Selina had just made, and realised she had a terrifying point. Muggle borns were still treated with disdain and yet Dumbledore didn't stop it.

Lily didn't say a word, she looked at her toes. Hermione looked from her to Dumbledore, lost for words. Catwoman smiled mentally, dancing a jig. Hopefully the stupid girl would grow a pair soon. Time up, she dropped the capsule, and it smashed releasing a thick black fog. The Order jumped, Dumbledore waving his wand to disperse the cloud. When the thick smoke disappeared, Catwoman and Daniel Potter had vanished.

* * *

><p>Dan and Selina arrived back at Selina's abode. Dan watched as his sister stripped off some of her outfit, taking off the utility belt, boots and gloves. As she moved into the bathroom to get changed she called through the door, " You caught on quick about what I said to Granger."<p>

" It wasn't hard," Dan replied, sickened by the revelation that even though the Light side hid their disdain for muggles, they were hypocritical enough to believe that they were expendable. " The only reason my mother's so famous is because of the fact her daughter defeated Voldemort."

" You still resentful about that?" Selina shouted back through the door. Dan could hear running water as his sister was in the shower. He would have one later before he went to bed.

Dan shook his head even though his sister couldn't see it. " No, I've accepted it. It was painful at first," He admitted. " Then finding out about Dumbledore's plan and Granger and Weasley...that was painful for me to get over."

Selina came through the door, her hair wrapped in a towel. " What did you think when you saw them again after so long?" She asked curiously. Dan closed his eyes, " I felt angry, Granger's always worshipped the ground Dumbledore's walked on."

" That will change when the war's over, and she tries applying for a job only to be kicked out again by the prejudice," Selina put in. Dan didn't want to think about that. It was still a bitter pill to swallow, that the Light side he'd lived with were only marginally better than Voldemort. At least Voldemort was more honest than the Light in his aims and views.

" What about Weasley?" Selina asked.

Dan sighed, " I've always known Ron would get that fat. It was inevitable, he was just as disgusting about eating as he was when we were at Hogwarts."

Selina nodded, " I saw the crumby mess around the arsehole's mouth. I know what you mean."

Dan shuddered, " I should've listened to you Sel, you tried to warn me about them. I didn't listen, instead I pushed you and nearly knocked you to the ground."

" Don't worry about it." Selina replied, " You saw the pair of them the way they wanted, the way Dumbledore wanted you to see them."

Selina put her hands on Dan's shoulders, " Don't worry, Dan. We're gonna win."

* * *

><p>At Voldemort's headquarters, Voldemort watched his ally as he expertly slashed through the air, he was a whirl of red and black, his mask hiding his face in the already dark room. Voldemort had received notice from his agents in the Ministry that Catwoman and Daniel Potter had killed a dozen of his men. At first Voldemort needed to be convinced that it was Daniel Potter, he'd thought he'd never hear about the boy again, not after the truth was revealed in the Ministry. Voldemort had known that the boy had been in training since he was a toddler, and that he'd been spoilt by his parents and fans alike. Voldemort knew the Light side well; they revered their chosen ones, their heroes, and the next they ignored them when something better came along, he'd known the boy would be pushed aside whilst his twin became the revered one. That was why Voldemort had revealed the truth, he'd known that anything Dumbledore taught the girl wouldn't be enough. Instead the girl had run off to learn heaven only knew what, and now here she was, adopting another identity and fighting and killing his followers.<p>

Then the ally came along. At first Voldemort had tried to treat him with contempt, the ally wasn't a wizard. But the ally had slashed him over the face, killed his snake, and beat him to a pulp and threw his wand away as he beat the dark lord down. After that he told Voldemort what Selina Potter had been doing whilst she was away, and that was more valuable to Voldemort than what Daniel Potter had been doing.

The ally had been intrigued to learn about what Daniel Potter had done, but he was more focused on Selina Potter, for reasons Voldemort could understand.

Revenge.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer - Catwoman and Harry Potter belong to different universes, and people. I just write fanfiction. Warning, this chapter is rated M.

**An Old Enemy. **

Bella paced up and down in the living room of her house, watched by an equally worried Dan. Bella was wringing her hands, hideous thoughts ranging from Dumbledore, the Order, Fudge and the Death eaters getting their grubby hands on her goddaughter were rushing through her head.

" Where can she be?" Bella asked worriedly, for the ninth time.

Dan sighed, but he didn't answer. Bella carried on pacing, saying, " She said she was only going to check on Diagon Alley. That was 4 hours ago. What's happened to her?"

Dan was also worried, and was doing his best to hide it from Bella. He was using the meditative techniques he'd picked up from his time abroad, but those techniques were supposed to work best in quiet and peaceful environments, and Aunt Bella's pacing up and down and questions were not making it easy on Dan.

A sound came, just as Dan was entertaining thoughts of gagging and binding his aunt. Both jumped up, and picking up her wand, Bella carefully opened the door, and gasped in fright and relief. Dan, who couldn't see much of the shadowy figures, had his hand close to his sai's. When Bella stepped back, holding the figure, who staggered into sight, Dan gasped and rushed to his sister. He took a good look at his sister when she fell into his arms.

" Dan...aunt Bella...take me to...table...need water," Selina managed to get out of her exhausted mouth. Dan wrapped his arms around her and looked up into Bella's frozen eyes. The elder witch was rigid like a board, and her eyes and face were paralysed in horror at the state Selina was in.

" Aunt Bella," Dan tried once or twice, but the woman wasn't listening, and Dan had to bark out, " Aunt Bella!" When the woman finally noticed, she looked sheepish. Through clenched teeth, Dan said, " She needs water, and from the looks of it some food."

Those words got through to her, and she dashed around the kitchen, filling a glass with water and preparing some food. Dan watched her for a moment as she made a quick meal, then he looked down at his twin in his arms. Selina was pale with exhaustion, her breathing was ragged. Her mask, usually so neat was torn and her night vision goggles were askew, and Dan wasn't surprised when he saw his sisters usually immaculate hair out of the bun with a few strands loose.

Dan took in the rest of his sister. Her catwoman suit was badly damaged, it was torn in many places. Slashes and what looked like knife or sword wounds were all over her body. Selina had a massive bruise on her chest. Carefully Dan rested his sister in her seat, and unzipped her clothes, carefully folding the slashed remains of Selina's jacket, and took off her gloves and what passed off as a mask and the goggles. Selina, who was resting her head on the table top, didn't protest.

Bellatrix brought a tray over, and she placed a hand on her goddaughter's face. " She's exhausted." She said, stating the obvious to Dan, who knew better than to push her at the moment. Dan put his own hand on Selina's face. " Do you have any pepper up potions?" He asked Bella.

Bella jumped at the question before she came alive, " Yeah. I'll just get them."

Looking at Selina, Dan shouted after her, " Get a few phials."

When Bella got back, Selina had fallen into a deep, exhausted, healing sleep. Carefully Dan took one of the phials of pepper up potion, unstoppered it, and glanced at Bella, " Hold her head, and open her mouth so then I can administer the potion."

Silently, with hands as gentle as a healers, Bella did as Dan told her. As soon as Bella had tilted back Bella's head and opened Selina's mouth, Dan poured the whole contents of the phial down Selina's throat. Gently massaging his sister's throat to let the potion go down, Dan put the phial down.

He looked up at Bella, his own fatigue catching in his own body, " Now we wait."

It didn't take long for Selina to wake up. After carefully staggering over to the couch, Selina settled gracefully onto the piece of furniture. Dan handed her the hastily prepared meal. Finally, after about 10 minutes of waiting for Selina to speak, Bella asked, " Well? Aren't you going to tell us what the fuck happened to you?"

Selina, munching on some chicken, replied. " I ran into an old..friend." Gulp. " Aunt Bella, do you remember when I told you about that student rival of mine, the one who tried to kill me in America? Kai?" When both of them nodded - Dan had been given a vague summary of what Kai had been like and what he was capable of - Bella replied, " Yeah, don't tell me he's here in Britain right now."

Selina took a long sip of water and painfully gulped. She was still exhausted and it hurt to eat. " He's here alright." Putting down her glass, she reached over for her jacket, which Dan had draped on the back of the couch. Unfolding it, she showed them the damaged. " He did this," Selina took a deep breath, " I was patrolling near Diagon Alley. I was only after exercise...

_**I was only after exercise..."**_

_Catwoman was atop of a rooftop, overlooking as best she could where she was, as much of London as she could. Taking a deep breath, Catwoman exhaled, exhaling the cold London air. She loved it up here, loved the freedom being up in the rooftops were. For that reason she didn't really want to give up that sort of lifestyle. _

_Catwoman was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she missed the tingling of her sixth sense, the sense which had helped her for a long, long time, when a sword came crashing down, missing her by a millimeter. If it wasn't for her lightning reflexes, she would've lost her arm. Back flipping backwards, she took in her assailant. When she did she gasped in shock and horror. _

" _Kai?" _

" _**You can imagine my surprise when I thought that the man who'd tried to kill me in New York was back in my life, but I had no idea that tonight was only one of my problems. Knowing Kai was after me to kill me, I knew the best way to deal with him was to hurt him and his almighty pride. Pride goeth before a fall, and Kai's pride was his greatest weakness. That was the version of the man I knew, I didn't think he had changed, much to my stupidity..." **_

_Kai, under his hound-like mask, smirked as he slowly removed his sword, " You still remember me, Catwoman - Selina Potter," Kai's smirk became a sneer. " You, however, have changed little, still sneaking about, poking your nose where it doesn't belong." _

" _**At that point I wanted answers, and I was going to get them even if I had to rip it from his throat..." **_

_Catwoman stood proudly upright, and flicked her gloves, extending her claws. The old claws had been more brittle compared to this new series, and these ones were augmented with magic to make them more vicious. " How did you find me Kai?" _

_Kai smirk became smug, so smug Selina wanted to wash it off with toxic waste, " A wizard found me purely by chance, and he showed me a picture of you. Imagine my shock and rage," he growled when he glared at his hated enemy, " when I learnt who you were."_

" _A wizard...a wizard was looking for me?" Catwoman asked in horror, she had a bad idea of what that wizard had been. Kai's smug rant carried on, unknowing the mental debate going on in Catwoman's head. " You've been careless, Selina. Letting yourself leave the wizarding world. and letting that fool Voldemort hunt you. Now," he stepped forward, a look of fanatic hatred on his face, even as he took off his own mask and showed his scarred face to Catwoman, stepping into a stance. " you die. Tonight. Regardless of what Voldemort thinks." _

_Kai lunged forward after a minute of staying still, watching over Catwoman and keeping an eye on her and watching her own stance, marking her weaknesses. Ducking and weaving under the larger male body slashing and cursing, threatening her, Catwoman slashed him, cutting deeply into his thighs and legs before she was able to dig her claws into his back. Catwoman dug in deeper, and mentally flicking open her boot claws and, using her body's natural flexibility, and her contortionist ability, was able to kick into Kai's chest. Kai, now suffering from chest wounds on both his front and back, threw back his head, and howled in pain and rage. _

" _**He had the advantage of size and weaponry, but I had the advantage of flexibility and skill. I knew he would get the better of me at some point, so I had to do it quick..."**_

_Catwoman did have the advantage, but she knew that impaling her enemy who really, really, really hated her and wanted her to be buried a thousand feet down into hell wasn't going to help her. She knew Kai, she knew how his mind worked. What he lacked in initiative and genuine inventiveness, he made up for in his persistence. She dug her claws on both fronts of his body deeper, breaking his concentration in case he was working on a plan to throw her off. She wasn't going to let him go, not until she herself had a plan. _

_Kai was in absolute agony, his chest and his back was in pain as the wretched harpy dug her claws into his skin. Gritting his teeth, Kai grabbed hold of her legs wrapped around his body. " Urrgh!" He grunted in exertion, his eyes watering angrily at the pain of the sharp metal in his chest. With a sickening sound, the leg claws were out, the shiny metal now shining with blood. Catwoman wrenched her hands out quick, and leapt off Kai before he could press the new advantage he had. She landed 6 feet away, eyeing her enemy carefully. _

" _When did you become Lord Voldemort's newest pawn Kai?" She asked. _

" _I am no one's pawn, wrench!" He shouted, his mouth frothing like his namesake in his rage. He rushed at her, his arms outstretched, ignoring the pain of his injuries. Catwoman was more than willing to let him bleed, he would lose more of his strength that way, but she wasn't willing to let him rush at her like an out of control animal. She leapt over him at the last minute, somersaulting over him so she could see his reaction. Landing like a cat, she sat calmly on the rooftop. _

_As she watched him, she realised something._

" _**I realised at that point of the conflict that the roof we were on wasn't the best place for a major fight. We both knew not to take the fight to street level. We'd been trained in the art of the Ninja, and we knew that a Ninja works best in the dark, unseen..."**_

_Kai glared at Catwoman, who was still sitting comfortably on the roof, eyeing him. His mind may've been red hot with pure homicidal rage, but Kai's intellect was taken aback by how poised and unshakably calm she looked sitting like that. She reminded him of the vermin cats he'd seen in his life. Of all the animals he knew of no other animal inspired such loathing as the cat. Maybe that was why he was such a dog person. As much as he hated to admit it, he too knew that the roof they were on wasn't the best place for a fight. It was probably one of the few things they could agree on. The other was not being seen by anyone. _

_Lithely, Catwoman sprang up, somersaulting to the edge, and leaping of to the next building. " Catch me if you can, Pie." She called, waving at him, hoping he would have the common sense not to come after her in the condition he was in already. Kai, who hated being called names, felt the rage grip him even more. Catwoman had leapt three buildings away, and since she was a meta that gave her an unprecedented advantage, allowing her to move more quickly and find a hiding place, but since Kai was a normal human, he wasn't able to move like his enemy. _

" _**I got ahead of him, he saw me leap away. But I knew without doubt he would and could chase me. Ninjas are taught how, it's part of our basic training..." **_

_Catwoman peeked out of her hiding place, and saw Kai straight away. The rogue and flamboyant ninja had taken a grappling hook from his utility belt and was simply using it to swing to where he knew she was, 7 buildings away from where they'd been before. She wasn't going to run away from him, and the frightening thing was he knew she wouldn't run away. His pride knew it, his knowledge of her knew that. Running away wasn't her style, that had been clear the first time they'd met. That had been more than obvious when he'd needled her during her training. Slowly, Catwoman reached into her belt and pulled out three cat discs and 2 darts. She waited, pausing her breath, listening with all her meta powers. The scrunch of dirt on the rooftop she was on, followed by the ragged breathing, told her Kai was at last here. As she listened to the rasp of the psycho's breath, she wondered how he was holding up. It was one thing to fight her on a roof, but swinging from one roof to another was really trying, especially if you were suffering from blood loss. _

_Catwoman tightened the grip around her weapons..._

" _**He was in a bad way, I could hear he was in a bad way. My claws had made him lose a lot of blood from the sound of his pained breathing, and add the foolish way he'd swung to me... I didn't want to fight him, but he wouldn't be seen as weak. If you've met the man, then you'd know it too..."**_

" _Kai," Catwoman called, when the scrunching and terrible breathing sounds had moved away to the other side, her voice carrying. " I can hear you Kai, you're in pain. Please don't do this."_

" _You brought it on yourself," Kai shouted, or tried to. He sounded more tired than Catwoman knew he wanted to. _

" _It doesn't have to be like this. Go home, we can fight other times if you want, but not now." Catwoman pleaded to his common sense, but a part of her knew it wouldn't help. _

" _You want me to run away, like you did, like a coward?" Kai jeered. He was getting closer, Catwoman could hear the sound of his breathing, the scrunch on the gravel...he was getting close all right. She gripped her weapons tighter, and took out a gas/potion capsule from her belt. _

" _I didn't run away. I had better things to do, that's why I travelled to America. Not to meet you, but to learn how to fight off the monster you've allied yourself to. You were just a distraction." Catwoman retorted back at him, while privately she thought that Kai was a dangerous distraction. The thought of Voldemort allied with Kai turned her stomach, she just prayed she wasn't going to deal with both of them at the same time. Voldemort was one thing, but Kai knew her better than the Dark Lord did. Voldemort, she was certain, based his knowledge of her to his knowledge of her brother, but he was wrong, complacent in his power. _

" _You did run away, and nothing you say can change that! The cycle has to be broken!" Kai roared. Catwoman didn't bother to reply, it was clear Kai wasn't listening to her. The scrunch was closer now, and Catwoman didn't want him to attack her without giving her a chance to defend herself. When Kai passed her, Catwoman struck slicing his thigh with the cat disc, the razor edge slicing the skin deeply. Kai roared in agony, faltering. He managed to keep himself upright, through strength of will Catwoman thought. Kai had to balance himself, and he wrenched his katana out of its sheath. Moving in agony, he swung at her. Catwoman met the slash with her cat disc, which sparked on contact with the sword. For sometime this went on, but Kai was pushing her back close to the edge of the roof. When her footing slipped, that was when Kai got his hit. His sword sliced her on the back and on her left arm. She staggered back, dropped her weapons, including her faithful cat disc. _

_Catwoman screamed in pain as the sword cut through her clothes and sliced her skin. She fell, allowing Kai to slash at her with his sword, slicing her mask but not touching her face, which was lucky. Throwing his sword aside, he growled and hauled her up and punched her in the stomach, bending her over and making her gasp. Kai, wanting to see as much of her blood as possible, whipped out a knife and slashed her, making tiny wounds but painful ones. _

" _**I was weak, I knew I had to get outta there, but then he did something I didn't expect, something worse than a knife in the back, something beyond my own nightmares..."**_

_Catwoman was in agony as Kai attacked her. She was weak, and he knew it, and she couldn't concentrate on using any magic to escape, he seemed to have gotten off on it. He stopped and regarded her as she fell to the ground, not moving. She was weak and at his mercy. He licked his lips. Even though he hated her, in a strange way he desired her. Just this once. He dropped his knife and unzipped his trousers, he kept a hand on Catwoman's head holding her and stopping her from escaping from him. His cock, fully erect was free at last. He worked on pulling off her gloves, he had no wish to be slashed, and he tore off her trousers, gazing appreciatively at her knickers. He rubbed her mound carefully, gently. She groaned. " You little whore," Kai murmured, his arousal burning. _

_Tearing the panties off, he shoved himself into her, not caring about her pain, only his own pleasure. She felt so wonderful, and he could tell she was still a virgin, and he took delight in ripping her innocence from her. Hopefully, the whore would get pregnant, completing his revenge. He thrusted in and out, grunting with animal sounds as he clutched her throat. She was thrashing, crying in pain, her eyes watering. He tore off her jacket and shirt, and gripped her breasts hard, making her louder than before. She was loud, and it got on his nerves. He grabbed her mask and shoved it into his throat, her ruffled screams making him move faster. _

_Finally, they both came in their savage coupling. He came so hard that her eyes bugged out of her sockets as his seed burst into her womb. He didn't pull out of her at once, she felt wonderful. She cried in agony. He ran a hand over her face gently, " You were wonderful. Maybe I'll go away, and maybe we'll meet again. I loved this, and I hope you and I meet again for another round." He whispered, kissing her hard and forcefully on her lips. _

_Getting dressed again, he left her. _

_Catwoman was still, her cunt bleeding and oozing with Kai's seed, then she got up, wincing in agony from her brutal rape. Her body shaking and her heart pounding, she got dressed and recovered her weapons. Concentrating, she vanished. _

Aunt Bella was looking at her sobbing goddaughter in horror, her usually proud and indomitable features crumpled in pain and humiliation. " He raped you?" She whispered. Dan looked angry.

Selina nodded. Dan wrapped his arms around his sister, who fell into his arms gratefully as she cried her heart out. She'd never felt that weak in her life, now she was probably pregnant with her enemy's baby. On top of that she had a dark lord on one side, a moronic ministry on another, and an old man who wanted her to die, now she'd been raped by one of her oldest enemies, and might be pregnant.

Dan whispered as he held her, " I'll kill him."

**A/N. I thought of the rape scene as I thought about the version of Kai and Catwoman, and how he might treat her if he'd beaten her. Please review and tell me what you think. **


	15. Chapter 15

**I'd expected some reviews from the story saying how they hated the chapter, but let me tell you something. I'm not changing the end of chapter 14, I wanted this to happen, it's part of the plot. It adds a new element to the story. This chapter was to show you that Selina's not invincible. She can feel vulnerable. That makes the story more interesting, don't you think?**

**Vulnerable. **

Both Dan and Bella had vowed to avenge Selina, but they couldn't leave her alone. The normally self confident and strong Selina Potter was a shadow of her former self. Rape victims tended to shy away, and Bella and Dan could see she was screaming without words. Dan and Bella had taken it in shifts to go out and hunt for Kai, they knew what the bastard looked like, and they knew that they had to kill him for what he'd done, but vowing and hunting were two different things. After 5 days of being cooped up, Selina had gone to London, with both Dan and Bella as bodyguards. Dan had never seen his sister in such a state, then again he'd only just started to know his sister.

It broke Bella's heart that the vital and usually energetic girl was in this state.

One morning over breakfast, Dan asked Bella, " Why didn't she use magic, or her meta strength to get away?"

Bella folded her hands. To be honest that was a mystery to her as well. " I dunno." She replied painfully. " Even magical people are vulnerable occasionally to muggles, though some don't want to admit it. Selina was able to hold her own against Kai before he overpowered her. To be honest with you, I think Selina's too dependent on fighting hand to hand. If she fought with a mix of magic and hand to hand then she could fight harder and not end up in that state."

Dan thought that was harsh, but she knew Selina's fighting prowess and weaknesses better than most, so he didn't complain about what she said. He changed the subject. " Do you think she'll get over it?" Dan asked quietly.

Bella sighed, " I don't know," she replied honestly. " Personally, I think she should tell someone, like an auror. One problem, Selina's wanted because Fudge and Dumbledore promised the magical world she's the chosen one of the prophecy, so any auror that meets her will most likely lock her away on Fudge's orders while Dumbledore twinkles his eyes. Even if we did find Kai there's no telling what will happen."

Dan drank from his coffee, it was lukewarm but he didn't notice as he drank the cold liquid before a thought occurred to him. " Selina said Kai was working with Voldemort. Do you think he knows about what's happened?"

Bella's face was grim, " I wouldn't put it past him."

" I don't think he's gone to Voldemort. Knowing him he's gone back." A voice interrupted them.

Both turned to the doorway. Selina was standing there, wearing a t shirt and trousers. She looked terrible; her usually bright vibrant eyes were red from crying, her face was gaunt and her hair was lank.

Bella tried to explain as she and Dan jumped up, " Selina, we're sorry. We were only just-"

Selina gave a watery smile, " I know." She turned to see herself in Bella's kitchen mirror. She studied herself, it was as if the person staring back at her was an another person. A person Selina didn't know.

" I hate this," she whispered. " I hate not being able to move without being afraid of a sound, a creak in the night..." her voice trailed away.

Bella hesitantly wrapped an arm around Selina, before pulling the unresisting girl into a hug. " We'll find him, Selina. I promise."

Selina shook her head, " No. You wont. He wont go back to Voldemort." She pulled away and sat down at the table. She looked vacant as she explained, " Kai isn't the sort of person to come back so quickly, and he won't stay with Voldemort. He'd have left by now. Before I came down stairs I called the sensei at the dojo Kai and I attended."

Dan leant forward, " Did you tell him what'd happened?"

Selina nodded slowly, " In a sense, he's a wise man. He's been around long enough to know the signs of rape. When he confronted me about it I told him, I told him everything, giving him the same story I told you."

" How did he take it?"

Selina shook her head, " He wasn't happy. He's sworn revenge like you have. The sensei's trained many people, and unsurprisingly they owe him rather large favors, all around the world. Kai's top of the list for revenge where the sensei's concerned."

Bella looked closely at her goddaughter, " How do you feel about that?"

Selina turned slowly to face her godmother, " I feel happy I'm not alone." She said with a watery smile. She looked down, " I heard what you said, Aunt Bella, about my dependency on hand to hand and not magic. I know I need to change, I just wish the lesson hadn't been a harsh one."

* * *

><p>The next day, Selina asked Bella to make her a pregnancy testing potion. Her godmother had brewed her one of the most powerful potions imaginable. It took 3 hours to make, and the fumes made Dan queasy as he stared into the frothy electric blue liquid. Bella picked up a sharp knife and handed it to Selina as she ladled some of the potion into a pewter cup that made Selina think of the middle ages, " You need to prick the skin and drop some blood into the potion. If it goes red in a minute, your pregnant. If it doesn't change then you're not. It couldn't be simpler."<p>

Selina took the knife, and hesitated. If she was pregnant how was she going to cope? She'd estranged herself from her own family, who were fame seeking sheep who followed Dumbledore thick and thin. At least her brother and aunt would help her, but she was too young to be a mother, even though she'd often considered it. Because of her shitty childhood, Selina had ignored the possibility of becoming a parent, and her life as Catwoman wouldn't allow it, giving her the excuse needed not to fall into the trap. If she was truly pregnant, Kai had taken that from her.

As she took the knife she couldn't help but think about Kai. Why had he raped her? Nutcase he was, Kai had a sense of honour, or did he? Everyone had their own sense of morality, but Kai... Kai was an animal, a senseless, vicious beast without that honour that bound even the ninja.

Revenge against his enemy - her - was what he lived for. Humiliating her the way he'd been humiliated would even things out, making her pregnant would break her. If she was pregnant, she would do her best to look after the child, if not then she would hunt the scum down and make him pay. That thought in mind, she pricked her skin, controlling the pain from the prick, and squeezed a drop of blood from the cut. The blood fell with a plop into the cup. The potion started to bubble and steam. Selina, Dan and Bella watched, not even daring to breath as the potion worked. For half a minute, they watched with bated breath as the potion bubbled. It didn't change colour. Three quarters of a minute, the tension was rising, and no one dared to breath in fear that it would change as soon as the words escaped their mouth.

A minute and five seconds...the potion hadn't changed colour.

Selina wasn't pregnant. She let out a sigh of relief, the tension leaving her. A weight was lifted from her shoulders, only for a weight to wrap itself around her shoulders and be pulled into her brothers more than welcome embrace. She sobbed in relief.

* * *

><p>For the next month, Catwoman was laying low, but she was far from defeated. She was practicing her moves, her magic, preparing for the battle that would see the end of Lord Voldemort. Dan and Bella had helped her through the worst of the rape, they'd worried at first that her rape would make her close off to the world, and while she seemed to be recovering from her ordeal, Bella and Dan knew otherwise. There was an edge to Selina now, she wanted revenge against Kai, and they didn't stop her.<p>

* * *

><p>Dan resisted the urge to wipe his brow as his sister once again cracked her whip in his direction, waving her hand and throwing Bella back into the wall. He took the time to think about what had been happening. Selina had announced that she'd become too dependent on fighting hand to hand, that Kai had beaten her using the same skills she had, and she didn't like that. " If I'm gonna find Kai and put him in his place, and deal with Voldemort, then I need to practice fighting with both hand to hand and magic." She'd said to both of them, and Bella had been more than happy that Selina as proud as she was, admitted it. Bella had been worried that her goddaughter would one day be overpowered in spite of her meta powers, and Kai had proven it. Now, in the training session, the 15th in a row, Bella was stunned, but she rapidly recovered, and threw two bludgeoning curses at her. Selina dodged the first one, and threw up a shield to stop the other one. Dan rushed her from behind, but Selina threw him back with an unconscious wave of magic, then she moved like lightning and somersaulting over him and, with reflexes of a jungle cat obsessed, her whip cracked and the cord wrapped itself around Dan's katana and she yanked it away.<p>

" Don't make it easy on me Dan," She chided.

Dan gritted his teeth, and she uncoiled her whip from his sword and handed it back to him. " Let's begin again." She ordered, getting back into stance.

After the grueling session, all three were tired, but only Dan and Bella left to hit the showers. Selina worked on her moves, both in the martial arts and in her magic, she was practicing on becoming dependent on both arts so then she would never end up vulnerable again, her memory of Kai beating her, the rape filled her mind in all it's undeniable horror.

Selina gritted her teeth as her eyes glowed in pure fury as her training session became more brutal, her magical energy grew and grew. After spending so many years denying her magic and depending on her muggle roots, her lack of magical combat had beaten her. She realised now she was far too dependent on fighting hand to hand, and Kai was just as proficient even though he wasn't good at improvising at fighting as she was, but she was a witch, and it was time for her to accept that. Learning how to fight hand to hand was one thing, but learning to incorporate magic into her fighting skills was more of a problem. She knew she couldn't go out, not yet. Fighting both Dan and Bella After another 3 hours of intense working out, Selina stopped her moves, panting hard.

She was ready to go out and play.

* * *

><p>Catwoman, Bella and Dan went out that night to find some death eaters, and sure enough they found them attacking a muggle house. There were five of them and they were taking turns raping a girl Selina was sure was 12 or 13, she couldn't say for sure, her parents screaming as they watched their child being raped. The girl's screams of pain and terror filled her and reminded her of her own brutal rape at the hands of Kai. The death eaters were laughing, jeering about " muggle sport, but Selina didn't care. All she saw was white hot rage. Lunging forward, she flicked her claws out and attacked. Dan and Bella joined her, Dan taking out his katana and Bella her wand.<p>

Catwoman swiped her hand as the death eater was easing out of the girl. The death eaters weren't sure what'd happened, first the young death eater who was getting his thrills from raping muggle filth was preparing for another thrust into the muggle animal when a black blur moved with supernatural speed, the arm coming down...

The death eater screamed as the claws sliced his penis off, his screams died as Catwoman tore the death eaters throat. He died with a gurgle. Ignoring the death eater she'd just killed, she held out her hand and generated a ball of pure magic and threw it at one of the other death eaters in her rage. The surprised death eater was only just fumbling for his wand, trying to get a shield up, but he was too late as he disintegrated under Catwoman's rage.

" Avada Kedavra!" One of the death eaters screamed. As the green light of the curse sped towards her, Catwoman conjured a block of granite. The curse hit the rock, shattering the rock as if it was plaster. Catwoman wasn't there. She'd vanished from behind the rock, and reappeared behind the death eater who incanted the curse. She leapt on him like a vicious hell cat, and she clawed him to death. The death eater thrashed underneath her as he was punched, and clawed. Finally she set him alight and she watched him burn. A hand she was sure belonged to Dan hesitantly placed itself on her shoulder.

Bella and Dan were dispatching their enemies in front of the stunned family, and when they'd finished they saw Selina was still at it. They watched as Selina incinerated the death eater. Dan, hesitantly, walked over to her, sheathing his katana as he did, and put a hand on her shoulder.

" He got what he deserved. They all did." He whispered to her.

She nodded shakily as she recovered from her rage. She was still recovering from her hell, but she would recover in time.


	16. Chapter 16

**The rape in chapter 14 was a turning point for Selina, and I wanted it to be shown she wasn't invincible. There are stories of Harry Potter being raped on this site, and it doesn't look like people stop reading them because of that. Harry Potter in my eyes isn't a strong person, unless some special circumstance takes place. He's a mortal, and so is Selina in this story. Lisbeth Salander was raped in the book THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO, and yet she bounced back. Don't think that just because Selina was raped, it didn't happen in the comics. I'm keeping this story as close in circumstance to the comic book character. **

**Selina's parents were screw ups in both worlds. **

**She had only one confidant; comics, Holly Robinson. My story, Bella Black. **

**There was sexual abuse - Selina was a prostitute in the DC universe and in my story she was raped.**

The Break In.

Nott Manor was a fortress. It was walled in behind a brick fall 2 feet thick with iron bars, giving the impression of a prison rather than a house where a real family lived, but the defences of the estate were far more severe; anti apparition wards and wards that would kill anyone trying to trespass, including those unfortunate enough to break in, and since the destruction of Malfoy manor the wards had been strengthened. The Dark lord still wasn't sure what had caused the destruction of his followers home, all he knew was three of his most capable and loyal followers were gone. No one would replace them. Ever. The scale of the estate was immense, roughly equal to that of the Potter family; there were orchards, a vineyard where the Nott's grew their own grapes to make their own wine, a few centuries ago, a stable and a hen coop. The rest of the grounds were lawns with immaculately mowed grass. Next to the Malfoys, the Notts were one of the richest death eater families in Britain.

The House itself was an old one, but it wasn't impenetrable. A black cat, sleek and silent, padded softly through the grounds, getting passed the wards. She'd felt them as she walked through the iron gate. She was lucky there weren't any dogs. When she reached the house, she crept into a shadow and transformed into her human self. Catwoman smiled as she got back to what she did best. Flicking her hands open, her claws extended. Patting her whip comfortably, she started climbing, using her claws as excellent pitons. As she climbed, she peeked into the windows, keeping out of sight as best she could, and occasionally she saw death eaters of various ages, including people her own age. It was sad, so many people believed Voldemort would give them greatness, but Catwoman knew otherwise. Sighing, she resumed climbing. When she reached the top window with a balcony only to her right, she looked in and saw someone who made her heart freeze. She'd discovered, on her outfit, a potion that deadened the senses, but now she'd taken an antidote so then it would never happen again, and now she was seeing the reason for it.

Kai was in the room, in front of a fire, practicing moves with his sword. Her heart was pounding as she saw the enemy she'd been sure had left a while ago, she couldn't believe that he was still here. It wasn't his style, was he still here to humiliate her further, or was it something else?

Catwoman shrugged.

* * *

><p>Kai was in the middle of a gruelling exercise, but his mind wasn't on his moves. It was on his favourite subject, how he'd raped Selina Potter. After all this time, all those humiliations, her sneers and smirks as he'd trained her, taught her most of what she knew before she was able to defeat him would never forget the rage he'd had when he'd found out she was a witch, in the literal sense. Again, the woman had something he didn't have, and he hated her all the more for it. What Selina didn't know was that Kai had been wearing a potion he'd had Voldemort brew, or one of his potion masters. The potion, colourless, odourless, would deaden the reflexes of his enemy when she'd breathed in the potion. That had been the key to his victory.<p>

The chill of a wind shook him out of his thoughts, and he cursed himself when he remembered one of sensei's greatest lessons. " Always mind your surroundings, danger hides in the wind. You must conquer the wind."

As Kai turned, he screamed in surprise when he saw a familiar silhouette slash him with her claws. Kai fell back, putting as much distance as he could from Catwoman, but it didn't work. Catwoman was angry, and her anger made her a raging hellcat. Kai fell back, clutching his slashed face with one hand, sobbing angry tears, screaming in agony. He was furious as the blood pooled around him, angry with himself for forgetting how stealthy this witch was. Then he remembered his sword, and he clumsily raised it to fight her off, but it was too late. Catwoman grabbed the sword as it was swung round at her, and she held it but not on the sharpened edge. With a superhuman wrench of brute force and magical fury, Catwoman threw the sword until it struck the far wall on the other side of the room, the force embedding it deep into the plaster.

His only weapon gone, Kai fought back, doing his best, but Catwoman was too fast, her meta strength and speed, augmented by her rage and the painful humiliation Kai had shoved her into had burst out of her, and no matter what Kai did he was no match for her.

Suddenly, Catwoman launched herself forward, bringing him down and pressing her weight on him to keep him still, and with two of her claws, she gouged out one of Kai's eyes. Kai screamed louder in agony, cursing her as she ripped his left eye out. Catwoman was in no hurry, and enjoyed his screams of agony.

" Now you know what it feels like, Pie boy." She purred in a cold voice. He winced at the sound of her voice, and it pleased her. " To be beaten, humiliated, and for something to be taken from you. You stole my virginity, and I've taken your sight." Kai winced as he felt her cold claws, wet with his blood, press and dig into his face. " I'm not finished with you." Kai felt his heart go cold.

Catwoman smirked coldly when she saw the look of fear in his face. She got off Kai, and waved her hands. Kai was stretched out bodily.

" What is this?" Kai shouted breathlessly in outrage.

Catwoman answered by removing her mask and night vision goggles. Her eyes were as cold as ice as she regarded him. " You know I'm a witch," She sighed and sat down, " Since you attacked me, I realised I needed to use magic, so I am."

Kai's terror returned when he saw the look on her face. " What're you going to do to me?"

Catwoman smiled, and Kai screamed as his body was stretched even more, and he was sure he felt some bones break. Donning her mask again, Catwoman removed a bottle from her utility belt, and uncorked it and poured it all over the room, where it was sunk into the ground. Smoke started to rise from the ground.

She turned back to Kai, " Let me tell you what's happening. Your going to die from the spell I've placed on you, and it's unbreakable to anyone else but myself. Since I don't care about you one way or another, I wont save you. The spell's like a rack, it's going to stretch your bones, only your arms wont be pulled off, your spine's going to be pulled taut before it snaps. The potion I've poured around the room is sinking into the building, and destroying the structure of the manor. It'll take hours, but when it finishes the manor will collapse on top of the other death eaters. Don't try to call out, I've muted the room so you can't call. Goodbye." Catwoman vanished.

Kai screamed in pain as he was stretched more, he could feel his spine stretch with it. " Catwoman, get back here! Release me, or my soul will return and make you pay for this. Catwoman! Catwoman!"

* * *

><p>In the early morning, Nott manor collapsed. The investigators who detected the collapse of the wards would find the cat symbol above with the words.<p>

" Don't hide from me Voldemort, your next."


	17. Chapter 17

**Showdown. **

The Order of the Phoenix was getting desperate. Ever since Catwoman had appeared with Daniel Potter, they'd been seeing death eaters of all ages dying in numbers that doubled and tripled the losses since the First War. Dumbledore had spent most of his time going on about how she must be dark because she didn't let any of the death eaters leave or give them a chance to repent for their crimes.

If Catwoman had heard that she would have laughed her head off. It never occurred to Dumbledore that his opinion about her meant as little to her as Kai meant to her.

* * *

><p>The latest death eater attack took place in Diagon Alley in broad daylight. Selina, wearing a black hoodie over her head, was simply browsing the shops, anticipating nothing, doing nothing. When the attack came, she found herself in the middle of a screaming crowd as kids and adult witches and wizards, people with wands, and presumably more than able to fight back, ran off screaming like headless chickens. Selina couldn't help but sneer at the cowardice, but she had other things to worry about as she found herself fighting the death eaters. Without her whip and claws, she had to rely on her meta powers. She threw herself into the fray, gathering her concentration and her powers. Her magic flushed through her body, strengthening it and making her feel like she was undergoing an adrenaline rush.<p>

The death eaters were laughing, predictably, at the destruction they were causing, but when the hooded figure of a young woman jumped in, they were stunned, but they recovered quickly.

" Well, lookie here. A little girl wanting to play with us," One of the death eaters jeered. " No matter, she looks like a mudblood, lets show her what real wizards are capable of."

The hooded woman smirked at them. " I was hoping you'd say that, cos I can show you what I can do."

The death eater who'd taunted her caught a metallic glint in her right hand, but he wasn't able to move when she moved like lightning. It was like she'd been shot from an ultra silent air gun, and when she moved she used the conjured scalpel in her hand, sending it to one hand and then back to the other as she killed the death eaters one by one. She slit throats, seemingly gliding on the ground as she shot towards them before she leapt over the final one, launching the scalpel and transfiguring it into a machete, driving the blade right through the back of the surprised death eater until the blade popped out of the man's gurgling mouth, coated in blood.

As the death eater dropped to the ground, Selina found herself face to face with the man who'd started all this.

Lord Voldemort, tall, skeletally thin, his slitted cat like red eyes glinting like a serpent's set into his bleached green tinted grey white skin. Voldemort saw the green eyes under the hood, and he smirked as he realised his unlamented ally had been right.

" Selina Potter, the Girl who lived. How lies have shaped your legend. Do you want to know what really happened that night, so many years ago before I kill you?" Out of the corner of the dark lord's eyes he could see the public peek out and look at Selina with awe, shock, fear and sorrow. They clearly thought she was going to die, and there was no one to help her. It didn't cross anyone's mind that at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that the twins were sending an important call...help would be arriving soon.

Selina didn't say a word, she just pushed her hood back, showing off her newly cut short hair. The hair cut had come about because Selina wanted to change her image away from Lily Potter. She stared at Voldemort.

" I already know what happened that night, the memory's been burnt into my mind forever. I remember the look of disgust you had on your face as you murdered my grandmother, and turned your attention to me and my twin. What makes you think I have anything I want to say to you today?"

Selina concentrated on the local ambient magic in the area, and focused it on Voldemort, using Voldemort's own considerable magical core power to help control the effect she was generating with her mind.

Voldemort was surprised in spite of himself, he'd honestly thought the girl would be afraid of him. His ally, whilst arrogant, had been more aware of this girl's mental state than he was. Voldemort had always had an egotistical view of his own abilities, and it never entered his mind this girl could do things to him he could barely imagine.

Before his death, which was untimely since Voldemort himself had had plans for eliminating Kai because of his arrogance, Kai had given Voldemort talks about Selina Potter and her fighting ability, how she fought like a hell cat, but Voldemort couldn't see any hint of that at the moment, so he thought Kai had been exaggerating.

Oblivious to what Selina was doing at the moment, Voldemort raised his wand. " Avada Kedavra!" He shouted. The Dark Lord looked eagerly at the girl, wondering how she was going to escape this one, whether she would use that incredible agility Kai had told him about. He was surprised when the girl didn't move, but the air near her darkened, seemingly becoming solid. Voldemort couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the block of granite appear right in front of, a second after he'd sent the curse. The killing curse hit the block, shattering it in little chunks, when the dust cleared Potter had vanished into thin air. Suddenly a black blur to his right caught his attention as Selina slammed right into his side, sending him flying through the air until he skidded to a halt. Stunned, Voldemort tried to get up, but Selina was too fast. She swiped his wand from his hand, and picked Voldemort up and punching him in the face and chest before bringing the stunned wizard close to her face.

" After all this time, did you really think I would be unprepared? You have no idea what I'm capable of, something Kai discovered before I killed him." She hissed in his face. Leaping off Voldemort, Selina watched as the shaken wizard tried to stagger to his feet. Before he'd discovered his heritage as a wizard, Voldemort had mastered rudimentary boxing, but he was rusty since he hadn't needed to use those skills since he'd mastered dueling and magical fighting, and he was still stunned by the face she hadn't bothered buying a wand herself.

As Voldemort staggered around, the Order of the Phoenix appeared, with Albus Dumbledore, dressed in gaudy and unattractive to the eye lime green robes that bordered on neon green, also present were the Potters. Selina looked at them coldly, her very stance bordered on threatening. She turned her attention back to Voldemort, who'd recovered his wand and was just aiming it at her. The Potters screamed, but Selina didn't listen to what they had to say to her, she only had eyes for Voldemort.

Voldemort was still dazed from his beating, and he was just aiming his wand when the little bitch held up something in her hand. Voldemort stopped and peered closely. It was a matchstick, but what would she do with it? Voldemort got his answer when she struck the match and threw it him. Voldemort, stunned, didn't say or do anything. The air around his body was flammable, and as soon as the match stuck the air close to his body, he went up like a Roman candle. Voldemort was engulfed by the flames, but on the inside of his body his blood was boiling in his veins.

When the flames went out only a few minutes later, Voldemort collapsed to the ground, his body smoking and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. His magical defences had stopped the worst of the damage, but Voldemort's robes had turned to ash. Breathing hoarsely, Voldemort glanced up at the woman towering above her.

" A preview of things to come. I'm coming for you, and I will kill you. I shall kill you even if you attempt to hide in the deepest depths of hell itself. I shall kill you. I might be coming in the middle of the night, or a few years from now." Selina's smirk threatened to split her face into two, she'd seen this bit on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. " In the meantime, why don't you worry about it?"

Voldemort gulped, and gripped his wand, in actual fact a permanent portkey, and vanished from sight.

Dumbledore couldn't stop himself from poking his nose and putting his opinion forward. " There was no need to do that, Selina. We need to talk."

Selina sneered, " Why would I go with you?" Without waiting for an answer, she magically pushed Dumbledore and the Order away, sending them flying away from her.

When the Order got reorganised, Selina had vanished.

* * *

><p>At the Order of the Phoenix HQ, at Potter Manor, Dumbledore was finishing the meeting. The attack in Diagon Alley needed to be addressed, as soon as Selina had left a child had walked up to them, and bluntly asked why they hadn't arrived sooner, and why Selina Potter had been driven away. Seeing reporters from the Prophet nearby hadn't helped as they asked the same questions, and Dumbledore had needed to bluff by saying the Order couldn't be there the whole time.<p>

Now he was regretting that statement.

" This has got to stop. If Selina can be places we can't because we're too lazy then we're going to have be everywhere. From this day forward, there will be two Order members at every point in conjunction with the normal Auror patrols, which reminds me," he added, looking at the auror members of the Order. " Where were the aurors?" He asked in the otherwise silent room.

Tonks sighed, " Fudge, he's making foolish decisions again, believing that You Know who will attack the Ministry."

Dumbledore gritted his teeth, keeping his frustration firmly behind his occlumencied mind. Why couldn't that blasted man use his brain for once?

" No matter. The Order doesn't work for the Ministry, if you have to resign from your posts. I no longer care about playing by Ministry rules, if Fudge wants to protect the precious Ministry then let him. I want 2 things, first I want the population to see that we care about them, and their welfare means more to us than Fudge. Second, Our other number one priority will be to get Selina back. We need her, both as an icon and an Order member."

Moody couldn't help but snort. " Do you really believe we'll join? We need to stop pushing her and start finding ways to persuade her to join."

Remus Lupin nodded. " I agree. I 'll arrange a meeting with Bellatrix, maybe she can help."

Moody shook his head again, but said nothing. He was starting to see the Order were just too stupid to pay attention to anything he might say or suggest. Even the Potters, the girls own parents, didn't seem to understand and get it through their skulls their daughter wanted nothing to do with them whatsoever, so what made them think she would co-operate with Dumbledore? It was ludicrous.


	18. Chapter 18

**Werewolf meets Cat. **

Remus Lupin apparated outside Bella's cottage on the border of her wards, looking at the property carefully. The place was lovely, calm and peaceful. There were a number of flower beds outside the house, and a massive pond full of weed, fish and frogs. It was hard to envision someone like Bellatrix living in this place He sniffed the air, and smiled. There were three human scents present, one was Bella, one was male, Daniel obviously, and finally the scent of Selina. It was still fresh, she was here. That surprised the werewolf, but it did make sense. Bellatrix was the only magical person aside from Daniel Selina trusted. It was just unfortunate that she didn't trust others in their world.

Lupin walked up to the door and knocked on it, waiting. His hand went for his wand. Unlike other members of the Order, Lupin knew better than to underestimate someone with a magical and fighting calibre like Bellatrix, but Selina's method of fighting was different and unpredictable. Lupin had no intention of fighting Selina, but he was ready for anything if the need arose.

The door opened, and almost slammed shut again when the person who opened it saw who was on the other side.

" Dan," Remus said softly. " Let me come in. I need to talk with you, and your sister." Deep down he was saddened that Dan, a boy he'd trained personally would ignore him and his letters. Remus understood though why, after being betrayed like that by two of the most obnoxious people in the world, it was hardly surprising Dan had decided to cut off all ties with his parents. Dan Potter wanted to close the door, but he wanted to hear what Remus had to say. " Wait a moment." He said, reaching a decision, closing the door. Remus waited outside for 3 minutes, his enhanced hearing picking up rapid speech that was fast and furious before the door opened, only this time it was Selina who opened the door. The other Potter twin was expressionless compared to Dan, but Remus saw the loathing she was still clearly harboring for him.

" Come in." She said coldly, turning on her heel and letting him follow her. If any other Order member tried to kidnap her with this opportunity with her back turned, she would obviously prepared to fight back. Remus wasn't going to do that, he wanted to give Selina and the others a chance to come into the fold of the Order. Selina lead him into the living room and sat down. Remus took the opportunity to see the emotions of everyone here. Bella was curious but wary about him being in her home, her hand was also close to her wand, prepared to fight if she needed to.

Dan was sitting in a chair with a Japanese katana sword next to him, his face and body language calm but tensed. Remus would forever be surprised by the level of maturity Dan Potter now had, a far cry from the boy he'd been before.

Selina was the only one in the room without a sword, a knife or a wand in her hand, but Remus could see the girl was ready for a fight. Remus hadn't really expected to meet Selina here today, but her being here was a bonus.

He smiled at Bella. " You look well Bellatrix."

Bella wasn't in the mood for flattery. " Lets cut to the chase, why are you here?"

Remus sighed. " Dumbledore wants you to be in the Order."

" Us?" Selina pounced on the word. " All of us?" She asked, gesturing to her brother and godmother. Remus hesitated, this wasn't what he'd expected. He'd known when Bella told him to get on with it that she wanted him to speak quickly and leave. He decided to be honest with Selina. It was the least he could do, and show the Order in a different light.

" Yes," He replied. " I'll be straight with you Selina." He began.

Selina interrupted, folding her arms. " Oh, please. Do so."

" Dumbledore doesn't like what you're doing, he wants to redeem the death eaters and stop anymore deaths. He feels that with you on our side we might be able to gain support from the Ministry and kick Fudge out of office." The werewolf looked down at his hands. " Fudge's making stupid decisions, keeping the Auror force in the Ministry and choking the war effort. Dumbledore believes that you can stop this."

" How?"

" By joining the order." Lupin replied like it was obvious. He didn't expect instant acceptance, and he'd known that they would refuse. He hadn't even wanted to be here, but he'd done it anyway. It had to be tried.

" Join the Order, you want me to join the Order and then become one of you, a puppet without any self will. I'd rather die, thanks. I've never needed the Order." Selina said back, her eyes glinting dangerously.

" Selina," Lupin said in a teacher talking down to a child voice, not realising it was the sort of voice Selina hated. " Dumbledore's giving you a chance to do something rather than killing someone."

" You think I want to kill them? I don't. I hate death and destruction. I just want a normal life in my chosen profession. I never asked to be a witch, I never once asked for a bunch of wizards to play around with my life or my twins."

" But - "

" Get out of here, Remus." Dan intervened. The other Potter twin had heard enough of this. He could see that Remus was making a bargain without any substance. " Tell Dumbledore to fight the war the way he wants, and we'll fight it the way we want."

Remus got up, seeing he'd failed but he didn't bother hiding his disappointment. " Dan, I can't say how disappointed I am in you. You know as well as I do that killing isn't the way."

Dan shook his head, amazed by the arrogance of his former mentor. " This is war Remus, the mundane world's history's full of bloodshed, and most of those wars were for more better reasons than the one the magical wars are based on. Blood purity, please. I've been to countries where the hell that's magical Britain's prejudices don't exist. Purebloods don't exist in other countries, this country's in the dark ages. How're we going to get out it Remus? Voldemort thinks that people like you and my mother are shit beneath his boots, but he doesn't care about them. Why should Dumbledore? He only cares for the status quo. If we did it his way then the war would've been lost years ago. He instead relies on children to fight his battles for him and his kind."

Remus was horrified. " His kind?" He asked, but before he could say anything about it Selina spoke up, her voice in the same dark tone as her siblings.

" Yes, his kind. You know, people who spout shit about things he doesn't understand and never will. Take this message back. I'm going to kill Voldemort, and Dumbledore had better not get in my way."

Bella, who'd been silent so far, spoke out. " Now, get out of my house!"

Remus disappeared in a flash. Selina smirked at Dan, " Let's get this over with. Let's end this now."


	19. Chapter 19

Claws out.

Selina Potter was out jogging, puffing slighlty to breathe properly, breathing in through her nose and out through the mouth, as she ran around the neighborhood where her aunt lived. Jogging was one of the only ways Selina had to take some time to herself. She wasn't worried about being kidnapped; she knew the Order were watching the cottage, but she'd taken precautions. She'd teleported only a few metres away from the Order, sneaking out behind their backs. Selina couldn't help but feel contemptuous, and neither could Bella and Daniel when they heard about the Order outside. Selina couldn't help but wonder what Dumbledore hoped to achieve by having people watch her all the time under invisibility cloaks - Selina often wore a pair of sunglasses that detected magical auras, the spell maybe restricted by all magical governments but Selina couldn't care less - and she could see them as clear as day whenever she walked out the door to do something as mundane as do some gardening, or to do yoga in the fresh air.

What puzzled Selina and her aunt and brother was that the Order had never attempted to even try and stun her and take her away. They were desperate, but they were still following the gospel Dumbledore had written. What irritated her the most was that the Order wasn't making any attempts to hide their presence, not that she wouldn't take precautions like the sunglasses for instance, which she wore whenever she went out, but the invisibility cloaks power was finite; they could cover the whole body so then it blended into the surrounding environment and diverted light away from the user, but they didn't stop people from moving or talking. Selina had lost count of the number of times she'd heard the rustle of bushes, the cracks of broken twigs and sticks on the ground, heard voices mumbling, or even having full blown conversations with each other. When she'd told the others this neither had been surprised, least of all Bella, who was an auror herself.

Bella had told Selina that the Order of the Phoenix believed that magic automatically compensated for anything that was stupid, but she did tell her that even aurors took magic for granted.

Dan hadn't helped; out of both the twins he knew the methodology of the Order better than his twin sister. He knew that the Order never bothered to actually think about what they were doing, and Dumbledore was always thinking up crazy schemes that he forgot about the simple and more important consequences, like casting silencing charms on surveilance people when they went undercover. What was criminal was that some of these members of the Order were trained Aurors, and they were usually meant to have brains that other magicals lacked.

Selina's route was quite large and covered a good stretch of forest, part of the village and through the meadow. The forest was also good for her acrobatic moves, and she'd become so good at them in this particular forest she could probably do them without her eyes seeing what she was doing. Unlike normal magicals, Selina and Dan had learnt that magic couldn't keep up with good old fashioned health and stamina. Dan was a late developer, but he had learnt. Sometimes he came running along the route Selina had drawn up, but sometimes he didn't. He lacked the meta powers his sister had inherited, but he was still fast. Besides his regime wasn't as brutal as Selina's.

Selina had been jogging for two hours, face red with exertion, but she knew that for every second was another second added onto her life expectancy, then it happened.

Selina's metapowers and senses kicked in when a spell whizzed past her head. Luckily she moved to the side, dodging the spell that it missed her by only a few millimetres. Damn, she thought, gotta work on my reflexes.

Selina flipped over, dodging another few spells, using her metapowers to take control of her reflexes. Although she prefered to be in control of herself, there were times when her mind shut down, and her feline driven powers took control of her body. As an example, Selina rushed towards a couple of Order members, not knowing who they were, and not really caring, she just ran towards them. Both wizards were stunned, but before they could raise their wands, both of them were dropped with a single punch, or in the case of the wizard on her right, a kick to the head, knocking him out. With the barely conscious wizard in her hand, Selina saw another spell head towards her, so on reflex she held the wizard out and he caught the spell. Selina closed her eyes, feeling into the magic in the area, and threw the order members away from her, throwing them into the trees, knocking them unconscious.

Selina breathed deeply, then she continued jogging, leaving the unconscious Order members. Hopefully, the next time would be more imaginative.

Sorry it's so short. I'm leaving the best one till last.


	20. Chapter 20

**My thanks to Bobmin356 for letting me borrow a part of his story, the Fall of the house of Potter. Again, if you don't like reading other peoples stories then cancel your accounts if you haven't bothered writing your own stories and stop reading and reviewing. To those who do like reading and reviewing in a positive fashion, please do so.**

Whip and Claws out.

Selina, Dan and Bella were walking through Diagon Alley, their weapons hidden from view with glamours on them, mostly because Bella and Dan wanted to take a look into the magical world and do some shopping for this and that, and Selina, still on edge from her run in with the order, came along with them. Selina lagged behind them, but Dan and Bella were keeping her in sight. The Order had gotten under their skin with their attack on Selina, that they'd sneaked up on her was either because one of the Order had suddenly become smart and scouted the area, where the route Selina jogged was found. Dan and Bella, who had more experience with the Order and their level of incompetence, had been surprised that the route had been found since it was well out of the way and out of sight of where Bella's cottage was. Bella had been pissed to say the least, and Dan had been quietly seething that once again he'd let his sister down.

Dan studied Selina as she walked in between him and Bella. She was looking at everyone and everything in the alley, watching them as they walked past, waiting to see if they were going to attack. She looked like she was a spooked cat, but there was no way in hell he was going to tell her that. Dan followed her gaze around the alley, and sighed. As a kid he'd heard stories of how Voldemort had terrorised the magical world, leading up to the joyous moment when HE ( when it had been thought he was the chosen one that is) had stopped him. His parents had told him, in vivid and sometimes too vivid detail, about how the population in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, other magical villages around the country had boarded up their shops and waiting to see the war end. There had been a time when Dan had loved hearing how HE had saved everyone from fear, but Dan's new found maturity and time in another country had made him think the magical people of Britain was pathetic, immature, and cowardly. Instead of keeping their shops open, make a stand in Voldemort's face, saying that they were keeping open no matter what he did they folded instead, and giving Voldemort the fear he needed as a weapon. It didn't help that the aurors nearby were not keeping a watch but were in fact talking to one another as if guard duty was a normal day at work. They weren't patrolling, and if they were then they were doing it for a short amount of time. None of the aurors seemed to get it into their heads that Diagon was a major and strategic point in the magical world, and if the death eaters wanted to attack, which was possible, then they could.

Bella was also looking around the alley before she turned to study her goddaughter. Selina was looking around, her eyes guarded and untrusting as she studied the alley and every person going about their business. Her heart almost broke into little pieces just by looking on Selina's face. She was young, she should be enjoying her life, going clubbing and getting drunk and laid. Instead she was cleaning up a mess that had been present for over 60 years, a mess Dumbledore, in all his wisdom, could and should've cleared up, but left for a kid to do the job for him.

Bella had no problem seeing that Dumbledore wanted Selina to fail so then he could fight and kill Voldemort, that way he could garner more fame and power than he had since Grindelwald, but she knew Selina just wanted to be left alone and truly didn't care one ounce about what the magical world did. Both she and Dan had spent evenings chatting with her and what she planned to do when it was all over. Selina had told them repeatedly that she wanted to become a cat burglar, and occassional vigilante on the side. Bella wasn't sure if either career was good for her goddaughter, but Selina was adament about it. She smirked as she thought about what Dumbledore would say, not to mention Lily and James when they found out what her daughter wanted to become, though she'd already become a thief and had been one for a while.

Selina sighed as she walked through the alley, walking alongside her aunt and brother, acting like bodyguards. This went against her independent nature and irritated her, but Selina was too deep into her own thoughts that she couldn't bring herself to care. She could see her future, the one she wanted not the excuse of a life Dumbledore wanted for her, slipping away unless something happened. Last night she'd laid out her Catwoman outfit on the bed, picked up the mask and the leather jacket, and she could see that Dumbledore and Voldemort were between her and her future. Selina didn't know when and where Voldemort was going to strike, but she was going to keep an eye out.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she jumped when she heard the screams. She and the others took off their glamours.

Lord Voldemort had apparated directly into Diagon Alley, planning on causing a one Dark lord killing spree without his death eaters. There were times when he had to fight alone to prove his power and majesty. When he came to rule supreme then he wanted people to see he was a fighter and someone who didn't always give tasks to his followers.

He hadn't expected to meet Selina Potter again, and in the same place. Maybe it was fate, but he wasn't going to repeat his mistakes like he had before. He'd been too overconfident then. As the patrons screamed, and the aurors ran away making Voldemort shake his head, they were making this too easy for him, only three people stayed behind. He recognised the false Boy who lived, Bella Black, and Selina Potter.

" Selina Potter, we meet again." He greeted, smiling when he saw how tired the girl was and how her brother and godmother looked ready to tear him apart.

" And you're as dramatic as always, snakey." Selina snorted.

Voldemort growled, and shouted, " Avada Kedavra."

The patrons in the alley stopped, and saw that the girl who lived was about to be killed. There was no hope. Then they saw her throw her brother and godmother away from her so she could face the curse alone. Then they saw space...distort, warp into a whirlpool of blue light. The killing curse went right through it, and they saw another hole in space form behind Voldemort, and the killing curse hit him in the back.

Lord Voldemort collapsed to the ground, dead.

Selina closed her eyes, and felt an enormous weight lift off her shoulders. Then the weight returned when she heard the sound of apparition. Selina let out a sigh of exhaustion. This wasn't going to be pretty. She only prayed she was right on the money.


	21. Chapter 21

Games in the aftermath.

Dan was surprised when he saw that instead of just the Order of the Phoenix and the aurors, it was both the Order and Fudge's gang. Knowing that Fudge had kept his job through the worst of the war had been an insult, mostly because the little shit was so stupid and worthless, but the Ministry hadn't paid a part in the war. That was Catwoman, his sister. Dan had spent a lot of his time working things out with Selina, and he discovered that he wanted to follow her lead and leave the magical world and head back for Japan, whether his parents wanted it or not.

Predictably the Order was there as well, and each member had their wands out, some of them staring with open and understandable disbelief at the body of the Dark Lord they'd been...opposing for so long. Dan would say fighting, but the Order never fought they simply stood back and they let the Death eaters kill whomever they liked, causing huge amounts of pain for the innocent victims they left alive.

If Dan was surprised by the Order and the Ministry's combined presence, then Selina and Bellatrix were not. Both had known for a long time that this was going to happen one way or another. Bella, who'd had the dubious privellige of working as an auror, knew enough of the Minister's thought processes that he was here purely to make sure his own agenda went through. Bella wondered what he was planning to do. She tightened the grip on her wand, but Selina put her hand on her hand. When the two women looked at each other, Selina shook her head. If there was a fight, then she didn't want her godmother to suffer through it.

Selina had noted with interest the people who were present in the Ministry party. She recognised Fudge and Umbridge at once, she dimly recognised the red haired man as one of the Weasleys. Percy, that was it, Percy Weasley, a stick in the arse bootlicker. She saw there were more aurors in the group than in the Order, and she couldn't help but wonder if Fudge had done that purely for his own protection, or for show. He needn't have bothered, Selina thought the man was a waste of space, and he was so unimportant that even Catwoman wouldn't have bothered with him.

Dumbledore was looking down at the body of Lord Voldemort was surprise, and Selina didn't hesitate to mock him for it. You could tell he'd expected Voldemort to die in a great big battle, but Selina was a master of disappointing people.

" You were expecting to arrive in the middle of a battle, old man? They should tell you that I love disappointing people," Selina murmured, but her voice was loud enough to carry through the alley, it was so quiet that even the wind had no sound. Selina glanced around her, feeling into the ambient magical currents. If there was to be a fight she would be prepared for it. She blinked, and she could see the ambient magic in the surrouding environment. There was a dark green - black strain that was connected to Voldemort, but the surrouding magic was red intermixed with yellow, purple, gold, blue, green, orange...the wizards and witches showed as those colours in the torso's of their bodies, and their wands glowed with the magical current leading from the wand into their cores. Selina had been terrified of her magical sight when she'd been a child, but as she mastered her ability she began to see the beauty of the magic. The ambient magic connected and binded the magics, making it seem that it was all linked, which it was. Without hassle, Selina could do whatever she liked whenever she liked to the magicals, but she wasn't interested.

Selina turned to face Fudge, " To what do I owe the honour?"

Fudge hadn't taken his eyes off Voldemort's corpse, and everyone could see how he was thinking of using it all to his own advantage. When the Potter bitch spoke, Fudge announced, " Selina Potter, you are under arrest for the murder of Lord Voldemort, a dark lord that could've been redeemed."

In truth Fudge honestly didn't believe the bastard was capable of being redeemed, but words like that meant a great deal to the Light, and he was going to pull a Dumbledore. If it worked for Dumbledore, why shouldn't it work for him?

Selina made no attempt to escape when the aurors came up to her, she shook her head at both Bella and Dan. Her eyes didn't leave her parents, or Dumbledore. It looked like there was triumph in Dumbledore's eyes...

* * *

><p>The moment Selina entered the Ministry, she could feel the sheer ambient magic in the air, and she started integrating herself into the currents. She didn't even glance at Fudge or Umbridge, she didn't need to. She could hear their thoughts a mile away. Their greed sickened her. Contrary to what some may think, Catwoman wasn't greedy, nor was she as selfish as they were.<p>

Selina remembered the only other time her path had crossed with Dolores Umbridge. It hadn't been a very pleasant encounter. She'd had a lovely day shopping with her aunt, then they'd met Dolores Umbridge, and instead of speaking to her like an adult like other people did, Umbridge had instead shot her down with the ' children should be seen and not heard of ' shit. There was also something else, and she was certain that Aunt Bella had picked up on it. A perversion, something hungry in her eyes. As Selina had grown older and she studied more, she came across a few theories. First, Umbridge hated kids, and loved nothing more than to cause them pain, much like the Carrow twins, though they were hardly likely to be a threat for much longer.

Second, some people loved abusing kids, and just because paeadophiles were mostly male, that didn't necessarily mean women couldn't be that way. With that, Selina swore never to have anything to do with the bitch.

Fudge was a different animal, a political animal. The trick he'd used in Diagon Alley had been deliberate, and planned. It was the sort of thing Dumbledore would do, state that Voldemort could be redeemed. Dumbledore had tried to gain control of her for a while, and with her in prison what could he do? For a start he could use the influence of the Potter family and his own authority to overrule Fudge. Selina had her own way of dealing with Fudge and the Ministry. She could start a chain reaction, bring the place crashing down by tapping into the various spells laced into the buildings structure, but she wanted to avoid it. Problem one, there were dozens of people here, people who had nothing to do with what Fudge had done. Problem two, she was inside the Ministry.

Selina sighed, and looked down in open contempt at the magical dampening cuffs. Did they think she was a common criminal? Feeling someones eyes on her, she looked into the eyes of Cornelius Fudge. The sheer smug greed made her want to choke him until he died, that or simply crush his body like a light bulb in a vise.

No, she decided. Play it by ear.

As for Fudge, when he met the young womans gaze, he was astounded by the lack of emotion in her eyes. Mad, he thought, pleased that he could get this girl into Azkaban easily and save his position.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for Selina to receive visitors. Sad to say they weren't the ones she wanted to meet. Her parents were waiting for her in the interview room. The Ministry's cell structure was like a fortress; cells dominated one wing, there was only one way inside the cells, and that was through the interview room corridor. The interview room was bare with only a table and chairs. It reminded Selina of police dramas she'd watched over the years.<p>

Her parents were dressed to the nines whilst she was dressed in the drab stereotypical stripped prison garb.

Selina sat down gracefully.

" No Dumbledore I see." She remarked.

James shook his head, his daughter seemed so calm at the moment that he wasn't worried. It looked like Dumbledore's plan would work afterall.

" No, Selina," he replied just as calmly; he needed to be calm and not lose his temper otherwise his plan would not succeed. " This is a family matter."

Selina laughed, the first sign of emotion she'd shown since she'd come into the Ministry. She'd spent the last 2 hours undergoing having her pictures taken for the Ministry's records, having her clothes taken from her, that was humiliating, and Fudge had enjoyed every minute of it. She'd been delighted by being locked away in a cell alone, but that didn't rule out the perverted Minister was secretly watching her, so her time was spent going over the books she'd memorised as a child.

Selina laughed for over two minutes, and when she calmed down, she hissed angrily at her father and mother. " A family matter? Don't talk to me about family. You don't know the meaning of the word. You don't care about me, if you had then why did neither of you protest about me being arrrested? Surely you don't believe that fucking shit Fudge was spouting, about Voldemort not being given the chance to be redeemed?" Selina glared at them both. " You do believe it, don't you?"

Lily and James glanced at one another. Both of them had been under Dumbledore's influence long enough to know Voldemort couldn't be redeemed, but the Death eaters could. No, they hadn't believed the Minister's rubbish, but Dumbledore had wanted to know exactly what the pompous little fool had come up with this time. Dumbledore was planning on stepping in later, with his own plan instead of Fudge's brashness.

" Selina, the prophecy demanded that you kill Lord Voldemort, but you should've done it under Dumbledore's instruction. You've only got yourself to blame for this." Lily chided her, much to her daughters rising fury at the self righteousness of her mother's attitude.

James only fanned the flames, " Dumbledore's doing all he can to help."

" And I take it you're not bothering to help? No, of course not. Why would you, Saint Dumbledore takes care of everything doesn't he? What, does he feed you as well? Here James," Selina sneered, making an aeroplane sound, miming a parent feeding a baby mockingly.

Lily shook her head. " You see Selina, this is what your problem is. You've never adhered to Albus's authority-"

" Yeah, that's because of how controlling the old fuck truly is - you leap over and punch me, father, and I guarantee you'll end up in St. Mungo's," Selina said, glaring at her father who was leaning over the table. The promise of violence in both Potter's eyes was clear, and Lily had to pull her husband back to stop him leaping at Selina.

* * *

><p>Selina's next meeting was with the very man who controlled everything from behind the scenes. Albus Dumbledore, dressed in eye watering robes of a lime green with yellow trim, was sitting at the table. Dumbledore watched with twinkling eyes as the auror guards sat her down but didn't remove the magical binding cuffs she was wearing. Selina didn't need to guess the old wizard was enjoying this, she could see it clear as crystal on his smug countenance.<p>

" Well Selina, this is what happens when you don't conform to my authority," Dumbledore began, not bothering to lulll her into a sense of security. Selina said nothing to him.

Dumbledore carried on, " Your parents are quite upset that you've refused their help, but I guarantee I will help you. Minister Fudge's rationale for arresting you has raised many issues, like the possibility of perhaps redeeming Lord Voldemort, and now the death eaters that served Voldemort are ill now, for some reason."

Dumbledore sent her a questioning look, but Selina still said nothing to him. Dumbledore carried on like this for another hour, always ending with the same questioning look at Selina, but the girl was as silent as a grave. Finally Dumbledore gave up and left. Selina was then escorted back to her cell.

In her cell, Selina did some press ups. Slowly, Selina consolidated her strength, rising slowly and surely from one press up to another. Concentrating her meta strength and her breathing, Selina was able to control the amount of discomfort. Whilst she worked out - the only form of exercise she could do aside from starjumps and jogging on the spot for 20 minutes - Selina thought about the times she'd spent with Dumbledore and her parents.

Her parents were still pathetic losers, puppets really. Dumbledore, Selina had nothing she wanted to say to him, so she'd kept silent. She didn't know nor did she truly care what the fucking man thought of her silence.

Selina knew that no matter what happened, she was still a prisoner if she wanted to be. Dumbledore and Fudge would pull the strings with her whichever way she turned. Which one would win would pull the strings, but Selina had her own plan in mind. Her pressups finished, Selina breathed in deeply, and sat down to do some basic yoga moves, followed by pilates.

Selina would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed her parents couldn't see the harm they'd caused, to her and to Dan. Oh, she understood the rationality that they wanted to spend their time with Dan when they'd thought he was the One. A cold feeling came over Selina as she thought of the prophecy. Had her parents believed that Dan would die, switching that concern to her?

Just then an auror came in and roughly grabbed her. Angrily Selina wrenched her arm out of the gorila's grip. " I can walk out on my own, moron."

The auror said nothing, he just lead her out of the room where they caught up with another auror, this time a girl. She had long brown hair, and she was looking at the musclebound ape and shook her head.

" You heard Amelia, treat her with respect, not throw your weight around." The auror turned to face Selina, and nodded in respect. Selina quirked an eyebrow, curious about this new presence. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the ape glower at her and her new friend.

As they walked down the corridors, the auror said to Selina, " My parents, my brother and youngest sister were killed personally by Him. I wish I could've done it."

Selina didn't need to ask who Him was. She knew, she just wanted to ask the auror a pertinent question. " Why didn't you then?"

The auror sighed. " I'm a muggleborn, and my family weren't that comfortable with magic to begin with. I was lucky to join the aurors, but the people here treat me like dirt. They think I'm too retarded to do anything worthwhile. Only a select few bother with me."

" You mean the ape?"

The auror laughed at the deadpan expression on Selina's face when she said that. She was liking the prisoner more and more, not just because she'd ended the life of the son of a bitch who'd murdered her family, but because she wasn't a pretentious bitch like the rest of the magical world. She only remained an auror because she wanted to prove she was no coward.

" Yeah, like him," the woman's smile faded when she got back on track. " I wanted to go out and find the bastard, but people like Dumbledore say forgive and forget, but I couldn't. I tried everything I could think of, but I didn't join Dumbledore's little group."

" Trust me, you'd be better off in an asylum than with his bunch. He's brainwashed everyone in there." Selina said. She didn't know why she was speaking to this woman, but she sensed she was trustworthy.

The woman glowered, " I know."

" Tell me one thing," Selina requested. " What exactly is happening, what's going to happen to me?"

Before the woman could respond, the gorila in auror robes spoke up, grunting. " You're gonna go on trial."

The woman auror spat at him in disgust. " She saves our lives, and we repay her with imprisonment?" There was another possibility, but neither female wanted to say it. The dementor's kiss.

Selina had heard of Amelia Bones, never met her, but she'd heard of her. The reputation of this woman showed her to be fair and impartial. Bones was someone who abided by the rules, and she wasn't one to let Dumbledore or Fudge tell her otherwise on how to do her job. The moment the two women met Selina could see with sureity the reputation she had was deserved, she was straight backed and looked like a no nonsense type.

" Selina Potter, my name is Amelia Bones," the lady introduced herself, to which Selina replied. " I know who you are. Amelia Bones, director of Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Amelia smirked, not in the least taken aback by Selina's knowledge. " Glad we got that out of the way. I just wanted to ask some questions."

Selina quirked an eyebrow. All thieves had an aversion to the law, and Catwoman was no exception. " With or without truth serum? I wont be lied to, Madam Bones, but I don't trust the Ministry."

" Do you think you'll need it?" Bones asked neutrally, pinning her with her formidable gaze. Selina studied her. She could see that although Bones didn't like her distrust of her ministry, she did like hearing her precautions. Selina got the impression Bones was as frustrated by the power grabbers in the Ministry as Selina herself, the only difference was Selina was apathetic. In Selina's world, the ministry and the magical world were just annoyances and not to be trusted, and Bones herself was no exception, but Selina knew that Bones could help her in some way.

Selina shook her head. " No, I don't. I'm a reasonable woman, but I can be unreasonable."

" So I've heard," Again Amelia was smirking. " I must congratulate you, you destroy a Dark Lord, and Dumbledore and Fudge are trying to wrest you into their camps."

Selina had already figured that. By arresting her, Fudge had her in a position as precarious as a pencil on its tip. One move and Fudge could tip that and the pencil - her - would collapse in prison, and never come back. On the other hand, he could bring up some already existing evidence, and she would became a ward of the state, no matter her age. In Fudge's eyes she was a political enemy, one way or another, his fate rested on what he did.

" I've gathered," Selina remarked dryly. " I've already seen Dumbledore and my parents, but I haven't seen Fudge or any of his sidekicks, so what does the Head of the DMLE want with me?" She eyed Amelia with caution and a little suspicion. Until proven otherwise she wouldn't trust this woman.

Amelia sighed, " Fudge intends to try you."

" When?"

" The day after tomorrow."

" That's fast, even for someone as moronic as Fudge."

Amelia didn't bother hiding her smile. Hardly anyone in the Ministry liked or trusted Fudge. In fact since the Girl who lived and won, as many were now calling her, many had claimed Voldemort couldn't be redeemed, that Fudge was being a fool as usual.

Selina caught the look, and didn't hesitate to point it out. She enjoyed it when people showed something on their faces, a word, an expression, an eye roll, and she enjoyed capitalising on them and making them uncomfortable.

" You have your own issues with Fudge." It wasn't a question.

Taken aback, Amelia stuttered for a moment, then she answered honestly. This was a confidential meeting, and Fudge was hardly likely to be listening.

" Who doesn't? The man's a fool. He wants the DMLE to conduct patrols, but when we arrest someone he finds excuses for them to be released. It's the same with the death eaters. He didn't help with the war effort."

Selina sat back, " I thought the ministry on the whole did nothing."

" Oh, believe me I tried. I lost family in the last war."

" I know." Selina blew out a breath she'd been holding, and changed the subject. " Is Fudge going to talk to me? He's the one who arrested me."

Amelia snorted. Fudge had spent the whole war making excuses to her and to the people, lying and saying that the death eaters were ' being dealth with as we speak,' yet nothing was actually being done about them. Those arrested were either sent to Azkaban, where they were broken out of again, and Fudge would say they were under the imperious curse, which was laughable since she knew when someone was under that curse, and the death eaters were far too lucid. When Voldemort had been killed, Fudge had arrested the girl responsible, claiming that Voldemort could be redeemed. That was as crap as the excuses Dumbledore spounted about the death eaters, " You kidding? Fudge's whole tactic is to make you uncomfortable and to make you sweat a little."

Selina laughed at that. The man really didn't understand her.

* * *

><p>The next day was the day Selina put her plan into operation. The auror bringing food to her cheerfully put it down on the bed, and was about to leave when Selina stopped him.<p>

" Wait," she requested. When the auror turned to face her, the door still open, Selina wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his own. Selina smirked when she felt something rise near her pelvis, but as she whispered in his ear, " Thank you," her warm breath sent shiver down the man spine - rather boy; Selina had never met an auror that looked like his mother was still weaning before. She smirked as the boy was clearly hormonal, and had forgotten his basic training. Her smirk widened when the foolish boy hesitantly wrapped his arms around her waist. Selina pulled back from him, and whispered, " Come back tomorrow, and I'll give you a day you will not believe."

Stuttering in excitement, the boy left, bumping into a wall.

Selina smiled almost in pity.

* * *

><p>The next day, the day of the trial, Selina was getting ready. There was always the chance her primary plan would be compromised, and that the poor sod she'd chosen would not come again on food duty.<p>

When the cell unlocked, Selina could see there was no food, and she couldn't believe this toddler would be so stupid as to come here without something for cover. Closing the door a touch only irritated Selina, as she knew that she needed privacy, but she also needed fair warning for when there was someone in the corridor. They weren't silent, but the door being closed meant all her concentration would be diverted to escaping and keeping her ears open to all sounds.

Selina regarded the boy. He was thin, pimply with slightly spotty skin, wirelike hair, that resembled closely a brush and he smelt of an odour that turned her nose up, but he was better than nothing, although she might've preferred a girl. Selina was bi, but she preferred women to men because girls weren't arseholes. Putting on a smile, she slowly started removing her clothes for the auror, who breathed hard at seeing her perfect body, but she stopped and held in front of her a small golden circle with an emerald in the centre, the slit resembling the eye of a cat. As soon as the auror saw the eye, he froze, and his breathing returned to normal, and his eyes glazed over.

" Lift your left hand," Selina ordered quietly.

The auror did so.

" Jump on the spot."

The auror jumped.

Selina breathed in hard. The cat's eye emerald had been something she'd stolen on her travels. The emerald hypnotised people and enslaved them to the will of the one doing the hypnotising. Selina rarely used it, and keeping it concealed had been a problem, especially since it had been concealed in a place no one would want to know.

" Take off your clothes, your boots, and place your wand over on the bed." Selina ordered, making a face when she saw how imperfect the aurors body truly was, but she memorised all the details. They were similar in height, for which Selina was grateful for, and he was thinner than she was.

Selina took off her own clothes, but kept her knickers and her bra. " Put these on," she told the auror passing him her clothes. He did so. She followed suit, putting on his robes and wrinkling her nose at the stench. When she'd put on his boots, she groaned. His feet were like those of a yeti.

" What size foot are you?"

" Eight." The auror replied, drawling his voice like a machine's.

Selina looked at her own feet. Size 5.

Picking up the wand, Selina concentrated her magic on the auror. Without moving, the boy's skin became smoother, like silk, and his hair became longer, fuller and more feminine. In time a replica of Selina stood in front of the real thing. Selina had taken an image of herself, taken from time in the mirror, and used her magic to create an illusion. She knew rougly what time the trial would begin, but she didn't know if Fudge would play a game with the trial. She set the illusion to last another 2 hours. What happened afterwards, she didn't know nor did she care.

" You will listen to me, and follow my instructions," she told the auror.

" I will listen."

" Good, this is what you shall do..."

* * *

><p>Uncaring that she might've left a boy to deal with the fallout, Selina left the cell area, and headed into the direction of the DMLE. She'd cast another illusion, this time on herself, and became an exact double of the auror whose identity she'd usurped for the time being.<p>

" Hey, Reynolds," someone called, and Selina had to remember the auror who was now in her cell, looking like her, was called Reynolds.

" Yeah," she/he drawled.

The auror, Tonks, came up to him in confusion. " Why aren't you on patrol?"

" Patrol?"

Tonks sneered at him, showing Selina once more that she was no little angel. " Yeah, patrol. You know, you and me go out into Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and patrol, ring any bells?"

In truth Selina had asked Reynolds what he was meant to be doing, and when he'd told her that he was on patrol duty today, which was why he'd come so hastily down into the cell bay. It seemed that Tonks wasn't well liked by others afterall, but the true joy was pissing her off even more.

" I do know what patrol is, you fucking harpy." Selina spat at her. From what she'd seen, Reynolds was a weak nothing. A sharp retort would be sufficient to get this arrogant bitch out of her way and off her case.

From the look of it, Selina was right. Tonks's eyes were wide open in shock. Selina sneered at her.

* * *

><p>Patrolling in Diagon Alley was uncomfortable for Selina, even concealed in Reynolds appearance. It was hard to believe it had been only a few days since Voldemort had been killed, but she could see the results quite clearly. Everyone was up and about as if nothing had happened. Shoppers were going about shopping, shopkeepers were idly going about their business. Only the newspapers held any relevant details about what had been going on, and Selina idly watched and waited for Tonks to walk away. Selina shook her head. It was hard to believe the selfish and vain girl had once been a fun loving and kind girl, but that was life. Selina and Dan had grown up with Tonks, and as the years passed and changed, so too did Tonks's personality. It seemed like she was becoming more and more like someone else.<p>

Selina put Tonks out of her mind, and turned her attentions back to the newspaper she was browsing. Her borrowed auror uniform, smelly as it was, put the venders off telling her to move on, and Selina enjoyed that power.

The newspapers were going off about how Selina had been arrested, how a trial had been set up for her, and what the outcomes were likely to be. Selina looked up in thought, wondering if leaving the Ministry had been wise, but she shook off that thought. The ministry would need to venture out into the muggle world to find her, but Selina was prepared for anything. The ministry of magic wouldn't enter the muggle world even if their lives depended on it, besides she was moving to another country with a full citizenship.

As Selina read quietly, Tonks was heading off down the alley. She and Reynolds had never gotten on, he was an idiot with no initiative and fewer brains, so what had changed? Tonks, like Hermione fucking Granger, liked attention, but they didn't like their heads bitten off.

* * *

><p>In the trial, Cornelius Fudge was growing angrier. Since the trial had begun, Selina Potter hadn't said a word, not to any questions. She'd just sat there and hadn't moved. Just as Umbridge was about to make a point, something inexplicable happened. Potter suddenly threw her head back and glowed yellow, and her body changed into that of a pimply youth with wirelike hair. " It's Reynolds!" Amelia spoke in shock, staring at her auror in shock.<p>

The boy collapsed, but his voice was clear as his voice said in the quiet courtroom, " I must obey. I must obey."

Pandemonium.

* * *

><p>Tonks was heading back when she received a call from the office on her two way mirror. Since the war had begun aurors had been given a new means of communication to quicken response time.<p>

" Calling all aurors! Calling all aurors! Auror Reynolds has been captured and is being impersonated by prisoner Selina Potter. All aurors to arrest Selina Potter!"

On the other side of the alley, Selina heard the message. The aurors were so moronic they'd forgotten that since she was in drag, she would hear the same message as well. Putting down her newspaper, Selina watched as Tonks came towards her, wand out. " It's over Potter!"

Selina chortled. " No, Auror Tonks, Nymphadora. It's not over, for me anyway. Ciao."

Disappearing before the bewildered Tonks could do anything, Selina vanished from sight.


	22. Chapter 22

Safe and sound Abroad.

Leaving the magical world had been Selina's plan all along, but she hadn't expected that the Ministry of the Magic would decide to arrest her. Returning to America after leaving Britain, Selina sent off letters to her brother and godmother, inviting them to move here as well. Selina knew that Dan already had Hoshi, his girl in Japan, but she was hoping that even if they were apart by miles of ocean then they would continue to stay in touch. Selina had enjoyed the time she'd spent with her brother, something she'd never expected to think after years of hating Dan and his arrogant nature when it was thought he was the chosen one.

Selina smirked when she thought about the manner of her escape, it was truly unforgettable, and hopefully it would keep her out of sight of the magical world. Another thought occured to her; what if the Potter family desperately wanted her to become an heiress over Dan? There was a possibility of disowning herself if the need arose, and simply by taking another name could she start somewhere else. Selina didn't have any problem running away from the magical world. What was the point of fighting them if they didn't learn from their lessons? What did worry her was Catwoman, her true identity, what if someone from the magical world did come and try and arrest her whilst she was over here? Selina started to think that maybe she shouldn't run, but give herself the chance to turn herself in, and give the magical world the full facts. Amelia Bones seemed like a fair minded woman, but maybe she shouldn't push her luck with her. She did afterall humiliate that auror, hid herself among their ranks and took a role as a patrolman in Diagon Alley, but Selina didn't know if the British magical world would try and arrest her. Dumbledore might, he clearly knew Selina Potter and Catwoman were one and the same.

As a thief, Catwoman was supposed to be out of sight of the law, and a few blurry images in a newspaper or an internet site was hardly going to be seen by the morons in the magical world, and Selina honestly had no interest in being tried by the magical world.

Dan and Bella arrived in New York a day after the letters were sent to them, and both were far from happy by how Selina had fled Britain and came running over here, then again spending time in the shadows of fools who wanted to use her wasn't her style. When they met her in her apartment, Bella rushed over to her and hugged her then she stepped back and whacked her around the head.

" Ow!" Selina cried, looking at her aunt in shock, holding her head. " What the fuck was that for?"

" Running away like you did," Bella said before she hugged her goddaughter again.

Dan came over and hugged his sister when Bella let go of her. " Nice one Sel, you humiliate the ministry, Fudge, Amelia Bones, and that poor bugger in one go."

" What about our parents?" Selina asked in Dan's arms.

Dan pulled back with a smirk, " Well, you did humiliate them to a point. Dumbledore too, but Fudge took a direct hit. You've made a big enemy this time."

Selina smiled, " Tell me something I don't know."

As they sat down, Selina gave them a run down of what she'd been doing since her escape, she didn't leave anything out. When she'd finished, Dan rubbed the stubble on his chin. " So let me get this straight. You impersonated an auror, and you've run away, and you don't intend to go back to the magical world?"

Selina smiled grimly, " I know what you're trying to say Dan, but its the only way. I've wanted to leave the magical world for years, without making a difference. Let's face it, do you honestly think the magical world can change? They've followed the same patterns of arrogance and single minded bigotry for centuries. What can I do about that? Besides, what can I do? Dumbledore's an egotistical maniac, obsessed with control and meddling with peoples lives. Before I left I left a spell that removes the memories of Catwoman from his mind. If he hears about me he wont know the difference."

Dan listened to his sister, and shook his head not liking what he was hearing. " Selina, you don't seem like a coward, and yet-" he trailed off, looking at his sister awkwardly.

Sel smiled at him kindly, " Don't worry Dan, I won't hurt you for saying that." She sighed and stood up, walking to look over the city. For a while she was silent, then she began to speak.

" I never wanted to study magic, but because of the prophecy and the fact Dumbledore was hounding me, I had no choice but to learn. When I was younger, I was good at slipping into the shadows. Unseen. That's what I want now. I don't want to spend the rest of my life imprisoned by one of three enemies; Dumbledore. My parents. Fudge and the Ministry. Each one of those three would use me for their own ends. Dumbledore would manipulate me from behind the scenes. My parents would do the same. Fudge, well he'd probably stick me in Azkaban to rot, just for the sake of his own popularity ratings. If I did stay, then how would I avoid all those three? Could I or would I survive? That's all I'm interested in, survival. I don't care about the wizarding world, they've done too much damage, to me, to you Dan," she said looking at her brother. " All the time, they expect someone to save them. Not me. I'm not a hero."

" Some may disagree with you there, Selina." Bella replied.

Selina shook her head, " No, I don't think so. None of them ever tried to help me when I was arrested. They may have spoken out against Fudge in the alley, but they did nothing to stop him from arresting me. Dumbledore could've done it, but he didn't either. Imprisonment in the magical world, or freedom in the mundane world. Not a hard enough choice."

Bella thought over what her goddaughter thought, and she could see from Selina's point of view. She'd been treated like dirt by the magical world all her life, hunted and hounded by the Light side because they did not understand her. Wasn't it her choice to be left alone? More than anything else, Selina wanted to be left alone by the magical world, and this was the best way for her to get that wish.


	23. Chapter 23

A Year Later.

Leaping acroos rooftops, and with her meta powers Catwoman was literally dancing with nothing more than an eight foot long bull whip for help in jumping through the city. Confidently, he was able to move with the grace of an olympic athlete and gymnast, and she landed each time on her feet, like her namesake.

Under her black mask, her night vision goggles glinting a green tint, Catwoman laughed. This was her home, in the air, leaping through the sky, using the roofs of buildings to navigate, not in the magical world. Her heart thudded in her chest as she leaped into the sky once again before flipping over and landing on her feet and hands with a soft thump. Catwoman stood up on that building, breathing deeply, her adrenaline surging through her body as her meta powers were surging through her. Catwoman didn't use her meta powers on full when she travelled through the city, but when she was leaping she was careful to keep that power surging. That was why she didn't need parachutes or jumplines.

Sitting on a vent, Catwoman waited to get her breath back. It had been a year since she'd put this outfit on, a whole year in training, trying to find some work in New York, ordinary work with cat burglarly moonlighting on the side. Tonight, she was simply seeing what she needed to do to get fitter and better before she went out on the tiles and started the mainstray of her life.

She looked up into the sky. The stars were bright tonight, she mused, with the moon crescent shaped and gleaming pure white. She smiled sadly, but happily at the same time.

Bella had returned to Britain, opting to stay away from the wizarding world, but to keep her goddaughter in the loop about what was happening in the stupid country. Selina was worried it was because of her that Bella was in virtual exile, no matter what her aunt said otherwise. Bella had been the only support Selina had had growing up, and although she was grateful and delighted she wasn't alone in the world, Selina didn't like the lengths Bella would need to go in order to stay away from Dumbledore's prying eyes.

Dan had returned to Japan, and he'd married Hoshi with his sister in attendance, giving Selina the chance to meet the delightful, but also deadly sword wielding princess Hoshi was, and Selina had thought Megumi was scary with a katana or a shuriken. Dan was now establishing himself as a vigilante in one of the cities, Selina had forgotten which one, but he was also helping with the Sato family business, which Selina aplauded since it gave her brother a chance to become truly responsible. Selina was stunned and yet delighted with the changes in her brother; there had been a time when the word responsibility and Daniel Potter did not mix, but that had been a time when her brother had been believed to be something he wasn't.

Selina had been understandably nervous about meeting the new driving forces in her brothers life, but the Sato family had welcomed her, and she'd loved meeting the grandmother of Hoshi. The wise old woman had seen the pain Selina harboured and hid from everyone who met her, thinking the cocky, stubborn and yet kind hearted girl was the personality, but in truth Selina was rather insecure. A few minutes with the woman, and Selina came away wondering whether she was a sorceress. Dan had laughed when he heard that, and agreed with her since she had incredible insight, and was capable of making anyone feel better and see themselves differently.

Unfurling her whip, Catwoman got up and she swung away into the night.


	24. Chapter 24

A Rival Thief.

For Catwoman, getting inside the art museum had been simple, but as she moved slowly through the dark corridors, watching for security systems, she noticed something she had not expected. A hole in a window. Catwoman stopped to examine the edges, the piece of window had been cut, and she peaked out and saw the glass on the ground on her left of the hole. Catwoman reared back. She had nothing against fellow burglars as long as they stayed out of her way, but there had been reports of a new burglar in New York for a while, and Catwoman had known she would run into the new burglar for a while, but she wasn't going to let that get in the way of her heist for tonight. For the moment, though, she was interested in studying this thief. The glass hole had been cut with a sharp tool, and had been large enough for one person to slither through, Catwoman gently tested it out and managed to get her torso through it; she could've slide through the hole but she had work to do, besides it was raining.

When she got her head out of the hole, Catwoman stopped and saw the wet footprints picked out with her night vision goggles, and she saw they were quite small, and on a hunch, placed her own booted foot close to one of the prints, bending down to take a closer look. Their sizes were quite close, and the comparison showed that the other footprint was quite dainty. A woman. " Damn," Catwoman thought to herself, " I've got a kindred spirit."

Moving away from the site of the hole, Catwoman walked along the corridors with the air of someone who had already been there. Unsurprisingly enough, she had, and she had picked her targets - two of them, each one in a margin worth of $23,000 to $67,000, and Selina had picked out routes to escape, and the shortest route to get to the paintings, just paintings, not sculptures. She didn't have a lot of time to do a full heist, besides as her philosophy said always deal with the smallest, and you get the biggest rewards. The only problem, there were lasers protecting the painting she wanted.

The gallery where this particular portrait was kept inside was long, and Catwoman saw with the help of her goggles the laser beams zigzagging their way around, but that was nothing compared to the scans of the portrait itself, kept inside a plate glass box. Luckily Catwoman had her way around that, and she dropped her backpack on the ground, she wouldn't need it anyway, and it would get in her way. Flexing her arms upwards like she was reaching for the sky, Catwoman scanned the lasers one more time, memorising their position, and she started leaping over the highest beams, bending down and stretching her body upwards with the flexibility of someone who did aerobics and yoga before she leapt over them once more. It took Catwoman only two minutes to pass through the lasers because they were so dense, and she'd needed to be extra careful with her contortioning to get around them, but she made it. Standing in front of her was the portrait. A hundred years old or so, Catwoman had no real idea how long it had been around, but she knew its value. Reaching into her utility belt, Catwoman took out what looked like a plastic wand. It was her latest invention, a wand that generated magic, obeying her without question.

For years Selina Potter had believed that magic wasn't as mystical as the magical world and mundanes believed, and she'd studied it with the help of theoretical physics, and she realised that magic was a type of energy. Zero-point energy, which was why normal electronics winked out, not because it couldn't still work but because the electronics were not strong enough to cope with the energy field being generated.

But Selina had found a way to tap into the field, her magic, and she'd already created a ZPE generator for her apartment, a wand that enabled her to do virtually anything with the surrounding environment, and she'd also adapted an already existing mobile phone to magically scan and disable security systems.

Gently placing the tip of the plastic wand up close to the glass, Catwoman mentally viewed and directed the energy to cut the glass, and just as carefully, she started moving the tip downwards cutting as she went. For two minutes, Catwoman concentrated on the plate glass barrier, cutting her way through. When the tip reached the original point of the cutting, Catwoman stopped what she was doing, and she flicked her fingers and her claws extended, and she dug the claws into the cut outline and gently lifted the heavy plate out of the housing. It weighed a lot, but her meta powers took care of the weight, but she was incredibly careful when she put the glass plate on the ground and leant it against the wall.

The painting was accessible, and it stood proudly mounted on the wall in its frame, but Catwoman didn't have the time or the patience for figuring out a way of removing the frame, besides she had a weight restriction, and carrying a frame would mean attaching it to her back, but it would slow her down as she made her escape after the heist. Using her forefinger, Catwoman made a slit in the top left hand corner of the painting, and she slid down, the sound of slicing canvas music to her ears as she once again showed her patience.

Checking her watch, Catwoman saw that 13 minutes had already passed - four minutes getting inside, two spent examining the patch of ground where her rival had broken inside, four spent getting through the lasers, and two minutes for getting through the plate glass, and one minute for cutting through the canvas of the painting itself. Catwoman had a timetable - 30 minutes were to be spent here, and she'd been here for more than 13. Not so bad. Hopefully the next painting will be easier, but since it was in a public gallery, getting to it should be easier without the heavy duty protection here, and the burglarly protection will be less since they were limited to the portraits themselves. When she'd finally finished cutting the canvas and lifting the canvas out of the gaudy frame that reminded her irritably of the robes Dumbledore wore on a daily basis, she dropped to the ground and carefully folded the portrait up before she carefully rolled it into a scroll, removing a black ribbon from her utility belt and tying a dainty bow, like one of those little chocolate boxes, before she placed the scroll and fixed it to her belt.

Concentrating hard again, Catwoman started to leap and duck and crawl under the lasers again, using the same route she'd used to get through it, and this time she got out quicker now she'd experienced it for the first time. When she reached her backpack and carefully slid the ribboned scroll into her pack, she was glad to find it was still there, reminding her there was someone else in the museum, that is if whoever it was hadn't left the place yet.

As she moved through the corridors, occasionally slipping past a guard on their rounds, Catwoman kept her eyes and ears skinned, listening for the slightest sounds, but she was hearing and seeing nothing. Either the burglar had moved on to another part of the art gallery, or the burglar had left already, leaving Catwoman behind, but she was leaving nothing to chance. Stopping in the centre of the corridor, dark outfit camouflaging her, Catwoman kept still as she listened. Again, aside from the heavy rain outside there was nothing, but she had not imagined the hole in the window, nor the footprints.

The one thing Catwoman found disappointing about art galleries was their lack of decoration, you would think that galleries which displayed and sold artworks at a high price would be more colourful and soulful than white, which was not a colour at all. It was all so bland, and Catwoman/Selina Potter needed to get away from the white when she got bored. The paintings were decorations, but they didn't suck up the boredom that came with it.

Putting that thought out of her head, Catwoman looked around and spotted the painting she was after. Like she'd expected, this particular gallery had no laser beams, but she knew the lasers were closer to the pictures than the last one had been. Removing her ZPE wand from her glove, Catwoman started concentrating again as she cut the glass and went down, leaving the sliced glass to cool down. For a minute since the glass wasn't as thick as the last one she'd done, Catwoman removed the panel in the exact same way as she'd done before.

Just as she slipping mirrors out of her pack to reflect the beams, the alarms went off.

" What the fuck?" Catwoman hissed angrily, her mind racing. Had she done something? Had a security guard found what she'd done with the picture she'd already stolen, or the hole and footprints in the ground where the other burglar had come through? Had a security guard sitting upstairs in a control room, drinking coffee and dunkin' doughnuts, reading a book, looked up and saw her or the other burglar on the camera screens?

Timing had been one of the importances of the heist that Catwoman had not bothered with the security systems, besides if she had sprayed something like black paint on the cameras, then the security guard sitting in the control room would see the blackness on the screen and would either investigate, sound the alarm, or ring the police.

Cursing as she realised she wasn't going to make a double heist with finesse, Catwoman sliced through the portrait's canvas and ripped it from the frame before doing a runner, folding and rolling the scroll canvas before putting a ribbon on it as she ran. As she ran through the corridors of the museum, she heard a voice shout, " Stop! Come back here!"

For a moment, Catwoman was sure the voice was directed at her, but it was too distant she realised, and she heard someone running towards her. Catwoman tensed when she saw the other burglar appear. It was clear as day it was a female burglar, and she was wearing an outfit similar to Catwoman's - black shirt, mask with lenses, boots, pants, but she also carried a backpack without a utility belt. The burglar stopped, staring at her in astonishment, though whether it was because she was standing so close to Catwoman, who was already a well known thief right next to Robin Hood, but the other woman looked happy.

" Hello, Selina Potter," the other woman whispered.

Catwoman reared back, flicking out her claws as she did, " How do you know my name?" she hissed.

The other woman smirked, but before she could say a word two security guards rounded the corner and came running out. " There she is, and her partner."

The word partner did not sit well with Catwoman, who was like a normal cat, a loner by nature, but she ran off with the other woman thief. As they ran, Catwoman could not help but note they were rushing through to the hole the other woman had cut through.

" I've cut a hole in the glass. We can escape through that," the other thief said as she ran, not even panting with effort. Catwoman frowned under her mask, there was something familiar about that voice. Her mind raced as she tried placing where she'd heard it before.

" If you mean the hole in the corridor window, then I know about it. What did you do to set the alarm off?" Catwoman asked.

The other woman grimaced, " Dumb and dumber took me by surprise. We just stood there in stunned silence, then I ran off, and they sounded the alarm."

" Couldn't you have knocked them out?"

" No, I'm not that big," the other woman said cheekily. Again, Catwoman frowned as she tried placing where she'd heard that voice, then she snapped into her tactical strategic persona. The pair of them had managed to get ahead of the two guards, but the pair of them were quite fast on their feet and they were able to keep up with them. At this rate Catwoman and the other woman thief could reach the window, but the guards could easily grab one of them as they crawled through the hole.

They had to be slowed down.

The other thief was a natural athlete, but even she needed to keep pace with Catwoman, who seemed to have the speed of a Cheetah. If it weren't for Catwoman keeping her pace then the thief would never have been able to keep up, but Catwoman was still keeping a brutal pace.

The other thief watched her admiringly, and when she saw how her breast jiggled in the sports bra she was wearing and how her pants clung to her bum as she ran, the other thief's admiration bommed even more.

Then she saw Catwoman twist her body around, stopping as her hand went to her belt. The other thief stopped as well. " What're you doing?" The thief asked her.

" Slowing them down," Catwoman replied, dropping something shiny on the ground, scattering the shiny things around, and bending down before she jumped up, turned around and grabbed the other woman by the arm. " Come on, keep moving."

As they ran through the corridors, the other thief heard screams of pain from the direction they'd just come from. " What did you do?"

" I dropped a few spikes on the ground," Catwoman smirked. " Their not gonna be happy if they catch us."

When they reached the hole in the window, Catwoman gestured for the other thief to go through first. Catwoman looked around for the guards, but they hadn't arrived just yet, if they had any idea where they were, but they knew the art museum better than they did. As she kept watch, Catwoman also saw the other woman crawl through the window hole, and she couldn't help but think this other thief was quite gorgeous.

Catwoman was bisexual, and her tastes were a range of being dominated and domination, and this thief had an incredibly nice body, but how did she know who Catwoman truly was, and how did Catwoman know her? Certain the two women knew each other, Selina under the mask wondered how on earth they knew each other, but she couldn't place her. Hopefully the other woman was going to talk.

When the other woman moved out of the window, Catwoman started moving through the hole, and as she crawled through the other thief helped her. Normally Catwoman didn't like being helped, but this woman knew how to use her hands, and she didn't mind. By the time Catwoman had gotten out, she was in the other woman's embrace, and Catwoman could feel her body pressed against her own.

The other woman smirked, and leant forward and captured her lips with her own, and then Selina caught the whiff of strawberry from the other woman as they kissed, and Catwoman was amazed by how good the woman was. By the time Catwoman and the other thief had broken off their kiss, Selina was now enamoured with her, and then she caught something. A magical aura. This woman was a witch.

" Come on, I've got a car down there," the woman said.

Catwoman was only too happy to comply.

" Who are you?" Catwoman asked again when they were in the car. The woman did not reply until they had driven off and travelled a block away from the museum. Then she took off her balaclava that covered half her face. Long, bushy-curly brunette hair tumbled down, and Catwoman saw who she was.

Hermione Granger.

" Granger?" Catwoman said in astonishment. The gorgeous thief was the bushy haired know it all, how was it possible with Granger's goody goody nature?

Granger smirked, " You can take off your mask, you know. I'm not working with the Order. Can you read minds?"

" Yeah."

" Hang on, I'll pull over so then we don't crash," Granger said, pulling over. Selina took off her own mask, her long raven hair falling over her shoulders, her frown not leaving her face as she went into Granger's mind.

It was one thing to become a criminal, but to be a born criminal was something Selina had trouble dealing with, especially since this was Hermione Granger she was dealing with. Selina knew the girl had muggle parents that worked as owners in a dental surgery, but that was a legitimate business plan hiding their criminal activities. The Grangers were art thieves, and their daughter had been trained to become one of them, and she committed her first theft when she was six years old. Hermione had been taught lockpicking, gymnastics, safecracking if it was needed, and escapology, and Hermione had been raised with crime nearly all her life. When she'd gone to Hogwarts, however, she discovered a new world, and for a time she thought that she could get away from her parents for a while, but when she'd been recruited by Dumbledore to spy on Dan, her love for crime returned with a bang.

Selina saw with dawning clarity that Hermione Granger was a better actress than even she could've imagined. Granger hated Dumbledore, but she had learnt early on about occlumency, and she never looked him straight on in the eye, but the old man hadn't seemed bothered.

Hermione was bisexual as well, and she'd had a crush on Selina for a long time, she only acted the way she had to throw her off the scent. When Catwoman had appeared on the scene in the magical world, Hermione had quickly worked out who she was. It was a logical deduction as far as she was concerned, though Selina didn't bother going in deeper to figure it out, though she could guess it was because of the fact she was a thief who clearly wasn't a normal witch.

Selina pulled out of Hermione's mind, and regarded the other woman.

" What now?" She asked.

Hermione smirked, her eyes twinkling evilly, and she licked her lips.


	25. Chapter 25

Partners of the unlikely sort.

Selina and Hermione got out of the car, still dressed in their black outfits, and went inside Hermione's building. After being the lift for a few minutes they got out on the 7th floor, and Hermione tugged on Selina's hand and led her to where her door was. When Hermione unlocked her door and walked in, Selina followed her inside but not before Hermione grabbed her head and snogged her.

" I've wanted this for so long. I'm sorry I was such a bitch, to you and to Dan," Hermione gasped between kisses.

Selina stopped kissing her, and started sucking on the girl's pulsepoint. " You'll have to take that up with him." Selina murmured as she sucked on the moaning bitch's neck.

Lying naked in bed, Selina and Hermione looked up at the ceiling, entwined in each others arms. " You've done that before, haven't you?" Selina asked, stroking Hermione's neck. The brunette buried her face into the sweet smelling skin of Selina's neck. " My parents are kinda prudish, and they don't particularly like the fact I'm bisexual. Before coming to New York to find you, which was easy by the way, I took part in a number of orgies. You weren't so bad, you've been doing this longer than I have, haven't you?"

Selina didn't answer, she didn't need to. She was irritated by how easy it had been for Hermione to find her. " How did you find me?"

" I simply studied your thefts, then I decided that if I couldn't find you on the first time then I would start my own heists." Hermione replied. " What does this mean for us?"

Selina had been thinking that, " We can work together. I saw that you don't trust Dumbledore, damn you a fucking good actress. Why don't you trust him?"

Hermione smirked, " Thanks, I don't trust him because of the way he asked for the spying work to be done. I only accepted because it was expected of me, but I was also curious about why Dumbledore would want your brother to be spied on when he could merely ask the questions himself, but Dumbledore's not one for logical thinking, but it does make sense that Dumbledore would want extra eyes and ears to watch Dan. What's happened with him anyway?"

Selina's answer was guarded, " He's moved to Japan. What's happening in Britain?"

Hermione sighed, recognising the evasion, but she wasn't surprised by Selina's actions. She hadn't acted very trustworthy herself, no matter what her mind had said, " The same old. The Ministry is still held inside the status quo where purebloods rule and muggleborns are the lowest of the low, next to squibs. Dumbledore isn't trying to get you back, he's given up for some reason."

" I'm curious why that is," Selina murmured. " Dumbledore was desperate to get hold of me."

" Wizards are like that, they give up too easily." Hermione replied, her hand moving to cup Selina's breast.

Selina moaned, but not as graphically as she had before. She rolled over Hermione, and captured her lips, whispering, " This, my bitch, is that start of a beautiful relationship."

Hermione moaned at the dominance.

* * *

><p>Catwoman and the newly named Black Cat went into full partnership together, and they robbed the same places whenever they went out. Catwoman was astonished by how well Black Cat took to crime. When she asked Hermione why she chose that name, the girl smirked and replied, " Black cats bring bad luck, but I think two cats are better than none."<p>

That answer changed the way Catwoman viewed partnerships, and their partnership became stronger and stronger as time passed. Eventually Selina and Hermione made peace with the other Potter twin. It had taken months for Dan to accept the truth of Hermione when he'd been certain she had been his friend before finding out she had been spying on him the whole time, only to find out she was hiding her own secret life. Hermione and Dan had needed hours alone for their friendship to be restored, and then she was introduced to Hoshi and was deemed acceptable.

Hermione was a little miffed at that.

But all in all, it was a beautiful relationship.

I'm going to end it there, my thanks to those who've loved my story. I hope that you have enjoyed my finale, and that you read my other stories.


	26. Chapter 26 Note

To the readers of Catwoman, I have posted a new version of my story on . Please see my profile to read it, and my other rewrite - Huntress - The rewrite.

Thanks for supporting my stories.


	27. Chapter 27

Not a chapter!

I am finally pleased to tell you all that my first ebook - My Poems is finally on Amazon.

Here's a sample:

**The Kipling Gardens. **

Walled with walls made up of egg-shaped pieces of flint,

vines creeping up the sides, spider webs glinting and shining in the light,

Following a path not unlike the Yellow brick road.

In the rose garden, the roses in the beds, surrounded by weeds and shrubs,

Like an army on parade.

The sun catching the colors of yellow and white, and pink.

The red brick path leads me to a paved path through what seems like the jungles of

India, where Kipling set the Jungle Book.

Under arches, twisted leaves, and grape like berries hang down.

The birds chirping replaced the sound of monkeys,

and trumpeting elephants.


End file.
